


Song Of Solomon

by doreah



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death Fix, F/F, Fix-It, Post-Season/Series 02, Pre-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-25
Packaged: 2018-02-16 20:09:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2282967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doreah/pseuds/doreah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What I didn't tell her is that it's more like a sequel to <i>3 Men and a Baby</i>, except you know, with fewer men and more teenage girls."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> The title is indeed based on a book of the Old Testament, The Song of Songs (Song of Solomon). Um. Anything else? Oh, yes. This revolves around Meg, and most importantly, the fact that Meg is actually alive (a popular theory of my own invention, although I'm sure a few others may share this viewpoint). Originally this was written back in 2006 when I could not accept the fact that they really dealt Meg the hand they did in S2. As such, it's been only meagrely edited to preserve the original voice and immaturity of the writing, cos I think it sort of works for teenagers. Also, clearly this was written FAR in advance of the film (and as of this moment, I have still not seen it).

Veronica Mars was not into girls _that_ way. She had never doubted herself on this account.

Probably.

Half of her most influential teenage years had been spent either obsessing over or in the arms of one or two of the richest boys in Neptune. The thought had never even crossed her mind. Sure, there had been a few parties when she was with Duncan that she vaguely remembered a kiss here or a fondle there (and she could never control Lilly when she was intent to win a dare, or anything else for that matter. Oh, Lilly). Then of course, there was that one party, the one she doesn’t remember more than a full minute of which also happened to be the same night that she lost her virginity, in the most heterosexual way to her ex-boyfriend regardless of an alcohol-induced make-out session with Shelley Pomeroy. And it wasn’t some misguided confusion that kept her from crossing that final boundary with Logan. No, that was a completely different story. And Duncan, when she was finally coherent, was the one, once again, to be popping her then only metaphoric cherry. She liked to think of that night as the special one, not that other night that she couldn’t remember. In her eyes, if she didn’t really remember it, it couldn’t really count as much. Right?

And she would have gone on living her very clearly fulfilling heterosexual life, reveling in her angsty and lusty relationships with members of the opposite sex, especially those whom also happened to be best friends with each other at the moment. Well, as “best” as a friend could be considering one had just taken off randomly with no warning, no contact info, and a kidnapping warrant on his head. Her life should have been easy, her choices straightforward, so to speak.

Everything would have been fine if it wasn’t for the warm hand resting softly in the dip of her hip, two fingers slipped just under the waistband of her pyjama pants. The problem was that this was not the hand of man-whore Logan, or the wayfaring if slightly mentally unstable Duncan Kane, or even her best friend, (also of the opposite gender) Wallace.

It was Meg. Of course, the fact that she was sharing a bed with Meg should have been some indication but it had started off innocently enough. She had shared a bed with Meg for the last 5 days with no late night surprises like this one. They were friends once, as close a girl friend as she had since Lilly and Mac. Now apparently she was a little more than what Lilly or Mac was.

How the girl beside her even ended up hiding out in her apartment for the better half of the last week was a complicated and arduous story. She had sat up late one night and had Meg recite it from the beginning to the moment Veronica answered her door to a trembling ghost. Meg was supposed to be dead from a heart attack, a blood clot lodged in an artery or something scary like that. As briefly as she could summarize, Meg had herself planned it; a girl who was not as innocent as she made people believe. Everyday Veronica kept learning more and more about this girl who appeared to be so simple on the surface. The idea had been to put her baby’s fate in the only hands she could still rely on, Veronica’s. Then she paid a fair amount of money for the whole ordeal—a very Romeo and Juliet affair—to a motley crew of PCHers to make it happen, allowing her to escape. (And there was some cryptic comment about a PI who helped that caused Veronica’s spider-senses to get all a-tingle with a sense of eerie familiarity.) The whole plan had gone awry when Duncan swept in and whisked his child away to parts as of yet unknown.

He hadn’t been part of Meg’s plan. She had expected the baby issue to be up in the air for a while before the ever-clever Mars and Company finagled a way to keep the baby safe. In fact, she kinda didn’t expect Duncan to do much of anything. During that time, she was recovering, getting her plans in order with her aunt Chris, far away from the prying eyes of every Neptune citizen. When word reached her that Veronica didn’t have her baby nor knew where she was, and her parents neither had custody nor put it into that cult, she realized she had discounted an integral part of the whole equation: her crazy nut job of an ex-boyfriend. It sent all her previous plans to the trash because now she had to rescue her baby not from psychotic grandparents or an obsessively-religious organization, but from a possibly equally psychotic father of the child. Although she sincerely doubted Duncan’s capability to harm a child, especially his own, she couldn’t completely discount the chance and risk it. Not after all those medical records her parents had dug up on him with his blackouts and rage and violent fits. And that was what forced her back to Neptune and onto the Mars’ doorstep.

The last week had been a gathering of information and a reluctant Veronica hiding Meg from the outside world. Of course, as good as she was at keeping secrets, hiding an actual person living in the same small apartment with a private investigator and nosy father, would be a challenge. After hearing an explanation, and faced with a teary Meg, he easily agreed to Veronica’s course of action. It had been a task keeping Wallace in the dark, something Veronica was extremely guilty about seeing as how Wallace had only been back a few weeks and she was lying again.

Needless to say, seeing a timid Meg Manning standing in her doorway, looking slightly more hardened but still very Meg-like, was a shock. At first, Veronica had thrown the door shut in her friend’s face, calming her nerves. It was just a dream, a nightmare. Yes, of course it was. When the knock came again and Veronica stubbed her toe very hard on the island in the kitchenette, she was convinced that it wasn’t a dream and Meg was either haunting her or very much alive. It turned out to be the less paranormal, although still quite unbelievable, of the options.

 

And that was pretty much what brought the sleuthing blonde to her current predicament. As if she didn’t have enough to deal with lately, now she had Meg coming onto her. For about the ten thousandth time in her life, she looked around for the hidden cameras. Ever since the Truman Show, she had moments where she firmly believed her life was merely a TV show, where Meg, her father, even Duncan, were only actors who went home at the end of the day to rewind their TiVos and watch their scenes from the day; everyone watching her every move. It wasn’t enough that the head of security at a shady multi-million dollar corporation had previously bugged her room. The cameras had to be around somewhere too. Normally, she would have just pushed Meg’s hand away and rolled over to fall back asleep.

Instead she froze. Her breath caught tightly in her throat until she finally had to draw a long breath to regain her composure. Meg was asleep too so really it shouldn’t be a big deal. It was just an unconscious gesture. _Push it away and stop being so stupid_ , her mind nagged. It wasn’t even as if Meg had a firm grip. Sure, her hand was fairly intimately positioned but nothing perverse. Nothing dangerous.

The problem arose in the feelings that followed the utter shock of finding her friend’s hand inches away from an area that few had dared to go. She didn’t _want_ to push Meg away. A subtle warmth oozed from the other girl’s fingertips and infused Veronica’s body with a warm glow and utter confusion. She couldn’t quite force the little nagging possibilities from her brain. She tried to count the speckles on her ceiling in a vain effort to distract herself from the reality that she was actually a little bit turned on by the idea. Maybe Meg would rollover and just solve the problem for her. But Meg’s breathing was slow and heavy; she was sound asleep and obviously very content. Veronica was only then aware of the light puffs of breath sliding softly over the side of her face. Biting her lip, Veronica turned her head to look at the girl sleeping beside her. Yep, she was asleep.

And really close.

 _God, I really need to get some sexy, trophy wife lingerie and surprise Logan_ , Veronica mused to herself. She had herself convinced that her reaction to Meg was merely a by-product of sexual (i.e., _heterosexual_ ) frustration. It had nothing to do with the heat radiating off the other girl or the faint feeling of her heartbeat, strong and constant, vibrating from her fingertips. Letting out a low groan, Veronica rolled away and squeezed her eyes closed. Maybe she could also convince herself everything that just lumbered through her sleepy brain was a dream too. Maybe she wasn't sure if she wanted it to be a dream.

 

▪▫▪

 

Her wake up call the next morning didn’t come from her trusty Domokun alarm clock Wallace had bought her, but the rustling around. A sluggish Veronica reluctantly opened her eyes to her friend on top of her. It should have been normal. Meg was usually awake before her and always slept closer to the wall but she had never actually woken up during the process. The other blonde froze as she hovered over top. It wasn’t as if she was lying there; she was just simply climbing. Meg laughed lightly after that brief pause and continued to climb off the bed. Veronica couldn’t quite bring a similar smile to her face. Once again, Meg seemed to think nothing of it. She just went about pulling clothes from her suitcase as Veronica stared, half-asleep and still confused. She squinted at the girl muttering about having too many pink tops.

Veronica chewed on the side of her cheek as she forced her brain into the morning puzzle. She was really taking things way too seriously. The effect of Meg’s little unconscious gesture still hadn’t completely worn off. Now she was reading far too much into the little things. Did it matter that Meg had just crawled over her? No. Not at all. But somehow it bothered her. But it didn’t bother her in the way that you become when someone puts a spider in your hair or knocks over your ice cream cone. This was a different kind of bother, the kind of frustration you get when you know something shouldn’t matter but it really, really does for no discernible reason. And it wasn’t until Veronica realized she was scanning Meg’s body that she knew something was going on. Her brain was on overkill. She had let one moment take over her subconscious and now she couldn’t force the idea out of her mind: Meg was pretty hot, _in a totally not-gay way_ , her brain added. Nice tone, just the right proportions, and not all the effects of pregnancy had completely been worked off. Of course, one of the most noticeable things about her friend was her slightly larger chest due to being a mother. Veronica comforted herself that any one of her friends would notice that too. Any of the 09ers: Madison, Shelley, Pam, and all of the boys for sure. Other than money, the most important thing was appearance, however deceptive it may be. You could be the nastiest girl in school but if you had a healthy bank account and big knockers, you were in automatically.

“You okay, Veronica?”

Meg’s voice broke the other girl out of her thoughts. Meg smirked at her, seemingly confused, just standing around in her tight boy-shorts and a tank top. Veronica moved her gaze to the brown eyes staring back at her in curiosity. She nodded slowly.

“You’re just staring,” Meg added, with that lilt to her voice that she used to try to sound nonchalant when she was really very interested.

“I just, I’m really tired,” Veronica said, putting on her best sleepy voice and yawning. She stretched out, trying to mimic those big cats she often saw on television. Upon opening her eyes, she swore she caught Meg doing a little staring of her own. But then again, her imagination was working overtime for the last few hours. She sniffled dramatically and swung her legs over the side of her waterbed.

“I guess I might as well get up too,” she grumbled.

“You don’t have to. I was just going to get some stuff ready in the kitchen,” Meg offered. And that’s exactly what she had been doing every morning: preparing breakfast and sometimes lunch for her hostess and her hostess’ father. Meg was trying her hardest not to be an intrusion and it seemed to be working wonders on Keith Mars. He clearly enjoyed the prompt breakfast before running off to work. Veronica inwardly wondered if it was just Meg’s way of practicing for the years to come with her own kid.

The thought made Veronica's skin crawl a bit. She didn’t like being the test family. So, either Meg was sucking up or being super-mom-in-training. Neither option was desirable. With another morning grumble, Veronica made her way to the bathroom for a shower. Maybe the water would be moderately warm this morning. Although, just maybe a cold shower wouldn’t be that bad of an idea.

 


	2. Two

Meg Manning knew that anyone other than rich, well-bred boys were out of the question. There were to be no bikers, musicians, artists, burnouts, and especially no girls. Of any kind. Even a girl like Madison Sinclair, rich and debutante, or a girl like Mac, promising and genius--it didn’t matter. That was out of bounds. Only boys like Duncan and Cole were acceptable. Logan or Dick on the other hand were acceptable only as friends.

Of course, it’s almost an unwritten rule of teenage rebellion: to do the exact opposite of everything you’re told. Somehow, the more limitations, the stronger the desire to break them. Meg was no stranger to the pull of the forbidden. She understood what breaking the rules entailed and the consequences of doing so. And that was the reason that she flew well under the parental radar. She didn’t take risks like Lizzie or do anything too crazy but she was far from the perfect angel that people thought her to be. A few weeks after the excitement from that darn purity test had died down, she surfed the web for an anonymous one. Her score was definitely lower than Cole’s, assuming he hadn’t just lied to get on her good side. But it hadn’t been low enough to be considered anything unreasonable. The slut-sneezing was still unjustified, even after the events of the last nine months.

_Those nine months_. The months where one bad day seemed to melt into another even worse one, until she finally reached the end of her patience. As if her boyfriend dumping her after she found out she was pregnant and realizing her parents are evil wasn’t bad enough. She had to deal with one of her best friends dating her ex immediately as if she never existed. Then her life flashed before her eyes as she hurdled over a cliff in a sabotaged school bus meant for said best friend only to end up in a coma for months on end, knocked up and exhausted by the time she finally woke up. And then she was not greeted with welcoming smiles but angry glares and threats of eternal damnation. To top up the dogma sundae, her psychotic and abusive parents were bullying her into stealing her baby away and placing it in a horrific cult in order to keep it from her disturbed sinner ex-boyfriend. And, of course, she couldn’t possibly raise it because she was going to Hell. So, in a nutshell, her life tumbled from uncomfortable to bad to utterly and completely fucked.

Despite everything she told Veronica, she hadn’t told her that every night from the moment she awoke from her coma, the only way to get to sleep was to cry. Even when she had escaped Neptune, she smothered her tears in cheap motel pillows. It was only lying in Veronica’s bed that the flow of tears subsided. She guessed it had something to do with the person lying beside her.

Meg knew she had a crush. She knew what a crush was like. She'd known ever since that cute babysitter with the bouncy ponytail and pink Nike hi-tops looked after her when she was 9. And she’d had that same feeling for Veronica Mars for quite a long time. However, denial and religious propaganda were powerful tools in her arsenal. She never realized it until the end of the school year just how deeply ingrained she carried them. Instead she had pushed the disconcerting thoughts into the back of her mind and smiled happily in Cole’s lap or on the arm of Duncan. That was normal and right and _approved_. The funny thing about her parents was the control they managed to have over her without even being involved. She still longed to please them by getting good grades, being involved in everything she could, staying in shape, keeping away from all the horrible vices of the teenage years. She hated them yet yearned for their approval all the same.

That’s why choosing Duncan over Veronica—and hating Veronica for doing the same in return—hurt so much. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t like boys. She certainly did, pretty much. They smelt good and could open sticky jars and most importantly kept other boys away at rowdy parties. Well, at least the good ones were supposed to. Duncan was no exception. Her parents wanted her with a smart, rich boy and that ideal was served to her on a silver platter. How could she not accept? 

When it affected her relationship with her friend, she was torn inside. She took every opportunity to tell Veronica how pretty she was. Hint, hint, super sleuth. She suggested their own private circle. She only pulled back when it was obvious that her supposed boyfriend was going to screw up the Perfect Life her parents required of her--which terrified her, and it hurt her to see Veronica with Logan--out of all the scumbags at Neptune High. Even then, though, even then she still couldn't bring herself to totally go cold turkey on Veronica Mars. Nobody could. She didn’t want Veronica out of her life, regardless of how awkward and uncomfortable the situation might be. But she didn’t want to give up Duncan. He was the safe option. Somewhere in the mess of hormones and fantasy, she fell a little bit for him, in a weird, different way than she expected. She was in love with the idea of epic romance, grand gestures, of having a boyfriend to fulfil all those lame clichés. She was in love with the sheer magic of soul-mates. Sadly, she was never completely sure she was ever actually in love with the boy himself.

Then when he dumped her, she found the situation horribly reversed, forced to be the outsider of her own choosing, taking out her anger on the one person she had still cared to talk to. Maybe she had hoped her friend would have been a little more subtle, and a little more observant, a little more... Veronica. She had expected far too much from the supposed teen girl wonder. Grudge after grudge failed to make a difference.

Maybe she should have said something but Meg never wanted to be the girl who broke people up. She never wanted to be the desperate mother playing the baby card to get her boyfriend back like she saw when Lizzie watched TV after school when their parents weren't around. And she knew Duncan would have come back if she told him. And that would hurt Veronica. Of course, her confusing grudge hadn’t been a much better plan, but at least it saved her from using the pregnancy against anyone. It had been Duncan she was angry with but it was Veronica she ended up hurting most.

So now she was stuck in this ridiculous situation because she had wanted to be nice; she had wanted to get tough, not get even.

▪▫▪

The doorknob clicked softly as someone pushed it open. Meg’s heart leapt into her throat every time the telephone rang or a door opened. This time was no exception. Veronica slipped inside and shut it gently, glancing quickly over at her guest sitting on the couch watching some cartoon show. She let out a relieved sigh as the shorter girl put down her bag and jacket, kicking off her shoes into a corner. Meg watched her quietly for a few moments as she helped herself to an after-school snack. Veronica had been acting strange all day.

Tired of tiptoeing around issues all the time, Meg cleared her throat. “Is something wrong?”

Veronica spun around, apparently surprised by the sudden question. She smirked slightly. “I just have a lot on my mind lately.”

Pulling her legs up and scooting over, Meg pat the cushion beside her, that familiar smile spreading over her lips. “Wanna talk about it? I know I’m being a pest hiding out here, but I’m a pest that can listen really well.”

Veronica stared at her friend for a moment then took a long swallow of her water. “Um, it’s not really something I feel like talking about.” At least she was being honest. She bit her bottom lip as she saw Meg try to hide the roll of her eyes.

“Come on,” Meg pleaded, a slight whine in her voice. “Don’t be so Veronica Mars and let someone in.”

Veronica let out a derisive laugh as she took a seat beside Meg. “I just don’t feel like I need too. Plus, I have Wallace’s number if the need really arises.” She winced as the reaction to her words was displayed clearly on Meg’s face. Veronica knew the comment would sting. For some reason she wanted to get Meg back for the confusion last night had been causing her all day. But the result wasn’t exactly as she intended since Meg had no idea she had actually done anything wrong. Veronica realized she was just sounding like a bitch without a cause.

“Okay,” Meg said calmly and turned her attention back to the television screen. She wasn’t going to push it if Veronica was just going to be snarky and moody. “Forget I offered.”

“Meg.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” Meg muttered softer than before, never turning her gaze away from the TV. She didn’t seem angry but it was obvious she was disappointed. She forced a smile, typical Meg behavior. They lapsed into silence for a while. Finally, Veronica tried again.

“I might have a lead on Duncan. Got a call today from a motel owner in Sacramento. She says a guy fitting Duncan’s description came through with an infant. He didn’t say where he was heading. Just paid in cash and left the next morning.”

“Oh yeah?” It was the least interested that Meg had ever sounded.

“Look,” Veronica paused to wait for Meg to face her. When she didn’t, she tried again, “Meg, look at me, please.” Reluctantly, the other girl turned with a blank expression on her face, apart from the raised eyebrows as if she was expecting some patronizing lie. “I’m sorry. You just show up here this week after I thought you were dead. I’ve got to adjust a little bit to seeing my dead friend everyday, especially since we were never really good friends until the middle of last year anyway. I don’t even know you _that_ well. It’s just kinda weird, that’s all.” Veronica heard herself rambling and clenched her jaw shut.

Meg wanted to ask why Veronica of all people hadn’t peeked in the empty coffin. In way it was a blessing because then people would have known, but it would have made this whole ordeal less awkward. Instead, she simply shrugged and offered a weak smile. “It’s okay. I get it.”

Veronica wondered if being haunted by Meg, like she had been by Lilly, would have been preferable to this because this was just... _aggravating_. Attempting to lighten the mood, Veronica leaned over, bumping Meg’s shoulder with her own. “Come on. How often do your friends come back from the grave to ask you to solve kidnapping crimes?” she asked with a light tinkle of a laugh.

Meg smiled wider and chuckled softly, curling her fingers until only one finger remained. She pointed at Veronica. “Friends? Plural? You're all I've got.” She nudged Veronica back.

“See! That’s the Mars spirit! No friends and still smiling.”

“You smiling? Surely you jest,” Meg teased, pushing her friend gently.

“I'm just a bottle of sunshine. Haven't you heard? And you know, I’m sure with just the right coaxing those cartoon birds of yours would do my hair _anytime_.” Veronica paused for a moment to cringe and rub her neck. “Now if only those little birdie feet could give neck rubs because that would be way more helpful.”

Meg studied the other blonde for a moment, her eyes narrowing briefly in contemplation as she tried to figure out what to say next. “Sore neck?”

Veronica groaned and rolled her head side to side a few times. “Yeah, Mrs. Johnson had us do some finicky little project for the newspaper. Hell on earth, I tell ya.”

Meg wanted to shake her head. _Maybe you should stop giving Logan Echolls head in the back stall of the girls’ washroom_ , she thought bitterly to herself, quite perturbed by the jealousy that thought seemed to spark in her. She merely stared at Veronica instead, watching her loll her head about, trying to relax her tense muscles. After a few more minutes of watching this display of discomfort, Meg let out a long sigh.

“C’mere,” she ordered, tugging on Veronica’s arm. The young detective looked her over suspiciously and Meg pulled gently and spread her legs slightly. “Get on the floor and I’ll give you the famous Manning Massage.” Veronica hesitantly slid to the floor and sat back to Meg, nestled between her legs. She wasn’t sure if this was exactly the best idea given her response to a simple touch last night but her neck really was killing her. She let out a stuttered sigh, relaxing against the sofa. Meg snapped a hair elastic off her wrist and quickly put up her friend’s hair in a messy bun. Meg’s fingers were warm on the exposed skin of her neck, slowly rubbing small circles in the tender areas.

“Famous Manning Massage?” Veronica asked trying to keep her eyes open.

There was a small chuckle. “Yeah, Lizzie and I perfected it. Our parents used to drag the whole family to these religious retreats and all we’d be doing were organized activities, like sports and stuff. Then at night when all the Bible games were done and the leaders were eager to go out and get wasted in town, we were stuck in our rooms while Mom and Dad went off to discussion seminars. We perfected our massages then. It’s all about practice.” She emphasized her point with a well placed knead of knot in Veronica’s neck.

Veronica let out a short snort. “Isn’t everything?”

Meg laughed. “I guess so. Trust me, after the activities we had to do all day, the best thing ever was a shoulder rub. It became imperative.”

“You sound like you were reaping and sowing the infinite wheat fields.”

Meg sighed slowly, her voice sounding distant. “Something like that.”

The girls lapsed into a companionable silence as the TV droned in the background. Meg’s touch was soft but not weak as she worked the tension out of her friend’s shoulders and neck. Veronica bowed her head forward, reveling in the much-needed massage. It had been quite a while. She could feel the stress drifting away, flowing towards Meg’s hands, getting released in the infinitely small space between her fingers and the skin she was touching.

Meg bit her lip, trying to keep her thoughts on the TV and her task. However, Veronica’s quiet moans of appreciation weren’t helping. Usually her massages, despite their apparent intimacy, were completely asexual affairs. She had never understood the idea of a “sensual massage” as advertised on sugary-smelling lubricant bottles in the drugstore. But today was different. There was lingering electricity that hadn’t subsided since that morning. It was driving Meg a little bit crazy because she couldn’t decide where it came from and, more importantly, what to do about it. Before her brain could filter her thoughts, she heard her voice, sounding slightly husky against her will.

“You know, I read in Cosmo that 65% of massages lead to sex.”

Immediately she could feel the muscles tense in her friend’s shoulders and mentally slapped herself for allowing that thought to slip past the barrier of sensibility. Veronica made a soft swallowing sound, pulling away just slightly. Meg immediately tried to rectify the situation, massaging a knot a little more quickly.

“But then, like, 82% of all statistics are made up on the spot,” she joked awkwardly. Veronica didn’t respond. She was still stuck on the first statistic. Her mind whirled with the insinuation Meg had made. She had previously thought she was being overly-sensitive and seeing things that weren’t there. Now, if she wasn’t mistaken, Meg had actually just come onto her. Blatantly. Her undead, super-religious, straight friend had just implied something quite the opposite. But then, Meg was naïve when it came to a lot of things, so maybe she didn’t actually mean that. Either way, she couldn’t repress the mixture of uneasiness and curiousity the idea provoked.

Being the kind of person to give into curiousity first, Veronica couldn’t help questioning. “So Professor Manning, in your experience, does it ring true?” She tried to keep her voice as light as possible to mask her real nosiness.

Letting out a delicate laugh, Meg shook her head, continuing her massage. “Nope. I’ve got a no-hitter going on.”

Veronica grinned and leaned her head back to look up at her friend. “Well, I guess I’d better watch out. That’s a pretty high probability that you’ve got some catching up to do,” she said with a smirk, catching Meg’s gaze before quickly looking back at the TV. The smiles faded quickly from both girls’ faces, the taller one pursing her lips tightly and the one on the floor looking nervously around the apartment. Meg’s movements had slowed perceptibly but she hadn’t pulled back yet.

“With you?” Meg asked, sounding incredulous. She was pleased at how her words came out as if the thought had never once crossed her mind. Too bad the lengthy pause before her response betrayed the fact that the idea had been rolling around in there.

It was Veronica’s turn to make insinuations. “Well, unless you’re now some covert massage parlour employee giving rubs to a slew of guys on the side, I think it would be the idea: according to the stats it would be you and me.”

“That’s perverted, Veronica,” Meg replied a little too brusquely, her dogmatic upbringing snapping quickly to hide her real thoughts. _I really hope you’re serious._ “I really hope you’re joking.”

_I’m kinda serious_ , Veronica thought. “Of course I’m joking. What did you think?”

“Good, because I was worried about you for a minute. That’s just wrong.” _Fuck, fuck, fuck_. Meg could always rely on religion to throw up ridiculous walls around herself. Her voice sounded awful to her own ears and the idea that words like that came from her own hypocritical mouth made her stomach flop in an uneasy way. She cleared her throat to calm her nerves.

“You’ve been spending too much time with your parents,” Veronica growled. She was never really sensitive to any gay-related issues but Meg’s sudden 180 turn into a religious propaganda parrot was disturbing on several levels. Not once since she’d arrived back in Neptune had she mentioned anything about her strict Christian family values. Now she was spewing it. “I don’t think it’s _that_ bad.”

Meg backed up and sat cross-legged against the sofa, staring at Veronica who had turned around to face her. The last thing she wanted to do was continue this conversation. She would be forced to recite the numerous claims she’d been hearing since she was born; the same claims that she detested hearing and made her sick to her stomach when she thought about how they related to her. She really wanted to scream, “ _Don’t you get it? I don’t mean any of it!_ ” Instead, she fell back into routine.

“Well, I’m not saying it is, because I was always told to hate the sin, not the sinner...”

Veronica tuned out the rest of what Meg was saying. For a girl who had not 5 minutes ago come onto her, this defensive attitude was confusing. She had a feeling that Meg really had no belief in the words she was reciting but she didn’t know how to say anything else. The warmth of Meg’s breath on her neck last night came flooding back with the memories of her touch. Something wasn’t ringing true.

“...I mean, the Bible—”

Meg’s dispassionate diatribe was interrupted by Veronica’s sudden lurch forward as she planted her lips firmly on the other girl’s mouth. Veronica could feel the surprise and the unexpected tension in Meg’s body as she was confronted with Veronica’s impulsiveness. It took a moment for the action to register as anything but shock in Meg’s brain but after the brief lag between her body and mind, she relaxed slightly. Without thinking, Meg brushed her fingers gracefully along the other girl’s jaw, cupping her face, a silent plea to continue.

When Veronica realized Meg was kissing her back, she backed away. Confusion settled over Meg’s features as she licked her lips slowly.

The small blonde cocked her head to the side with a smirk. “Think it’s still gross?”

Meg let out a long, ragged breath and stared at her friend. “Veronica...” she breathed. It was a conflicted sound. There was no simple way to process what happened just now. Meg looked around nervously, her expression signaling the potential departure of the tears welling up in her brown eyes. Veronica noticed, with regret, that they weren’t tears of happiness. She was scared. All bravado faded as reality sunk in.

Meg was confused. Veronica had just kissed her. Whether she really meant it or not wasn’t even an issue. It was the effect that the whole ordeal just wracked on her body that upset her. She wasn’t sick to her stomach and this was the one time she’d kissed a girl without being intoxicated. She wanted more than anything to go back to 30 seconds ago, feeling the soft lips of her friend. She’d never been kissed like that. Teenage boys were sloppy, too wet and too aggressive regardless of how hard they tried to be gentlemen. Drunk girls weren’t much better. This kiss wasn’t dry or chaste, but it certainly wasn’t like all the others. There was a scowl of bewilderment on Veronica’s face.

“I was just proving a point,” Veronica offered cautiously. “It didn’t mean anything.” At least it shouldn’t have. Not to Meg. After all, Meg was the one who had seemed to be completely oblivious to everything the night before. She punched Meg on the shoulder playfully as she attempted to lighten the mood. Forcing a smile, the blonde stared intently at the television screen as images of ninja monkeys danced among flashes of epileptic lightning. The girls watched TV silently for a few minutes until Meg glanced over at Veronica who had arranged herself a safe distance from the friend she had just kissed. The other girl’s gaze was trained solely on the cartoon.

 

Having dreams about Veronica Mars was one thing. Meg could handle that. It was only in her head. In the daytime she could continue pleasing her parents with rich, male suitors, pushing her life into the narrow box that prescribed success and happiness, and most importantly of all, freedom from her parents' and God’s vicious wrath. She had pushed those fantastical romantic notions of her true happiness and soul-mate aside long ago, forcing herself to believe in Duncan's own delusional fantasy instead. It sorta worked. Except when it totally didn't. She ignored the cramping that the box caused because it was “for the best”. That's what they all said.

However, having her dreams about Veronica Mars come true was something she was completely unprepared for. And furthermore, Veronica seemed to have no idea what her little experiment really did prove. Meg could tell that Veronica meant nothing by it, only proving her point, or something of that nature. Typical, really. Before she was done thinking about what happened, Veronica rose and looked around for her satchel.

“Where are you going?” Meg asked curiously, wondering what was making her leave so suddenly.

“I’ve got to get to my dad’s to finish up a case he wanted some help on. We’ll be back for dinner,” Veronica said quickly with a forced smile, throwing her bag over her shoulder and grabbing her keys. Meg said nothing more. She just watched her friend leave, closing the door behind her softly.


	3. Three

Dinnertime came and went and Meg ate alone in front of the television. She was getting really tired of staring for hours at the damn thing. There was little else for her to do. For the first time since arriving back in Neptune, she felt trapped, restless, and worst of all, helpless. She had no access to a computer during the day since Veronica carried it everywhere like her first-born child. She only had Backup for company and sometimes he just wasn’t interested in listening to her bitching and moaning about her life. She was allowed to take him for walks, as long as she donned the disguise Mr. Mars had picked out for her but she was never to be out for too long. There was always the risk someone might see through the disguise. All the hiding and running was getting tiring. She just wanted to find Duncan and her baby and then never look back at Neptune.

She flinched when the lock slid back in the front door and Veronica came bursting into the apartment, followed immediately by her father. Backup sprung up from his spot on the carpet and bounded over to his mistress. Throwing her keys down on the countertop, Veronica turned sharply to her father.

“I can’t believe you! I had a handle on that!”

Meg bit her lip and watched the exchange. Keith peeked into the pot that was sitting on the stovetop. “Honey, you know that you can’t do everything.” He seemed preoccupied with the food rather than his daughter.

“What are you talking about?” Veronica fumed, throwing her bag beside the sofa, ignoring Meg and her best buddy who was vying desperately for some attention. “I totally had it covered! You ruined it!”

“I told you–”

“No! You didn’t! You just went ahead and took over, like always.”

“Veronica, that’s not true,” Keith said, much more calmly then any father Meg knew under the circumstances. “Now, eat something. You’re being grouchy.” He scooped some spaghetti out of the pot into a heaping pile on a plate. It was still warm. Veronica stared at her father glumly and crossed her arms.

“I’m not grouchy; I’m angry,” she pouted, watching the food intently. She took the offered plate without further complaint and fished for some utensils. Keith glanced over at Meg with a look of amusement as he piled pasta onto a plate of his own.

“Dearest, completely-capable daughter, thank your guest for that supper you’re about to inhale,” Keith said with an air of sarcasm and a smirk. Veronica nodded in Meg’s direction but said nothing. Instead, she turned to pour herself a glass of water. Keith took a seat at the counter, and twisted some strands of pasta around his fork.

“So, Meg, did Backup behave today?” At the mention of his name, the pit bull whined, and sat begging at Keith’s feet. The older man gave the dog a quick rub on the head.

“He was great,” Meg said with a smile. “Hope the spaghetti’s not too spicy.”

“It’s perfect. Thanks,” Keith said, chewing thoughtfully. “So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?” he asked, trying to make conversation. The question caught Meg off-guard for a moment. _Yeah sure, I made out with your daughter. That kind of thing doesn’t happen everyday_. She looked quickly at Veronica who had paused in mid-chew to stare directly back at her friend, almost as she expected Meg to say something. Quickly breaking the trance, Veronica grabbed her cup.

“I’m going to eat in my room,” she said quickly and scampered down the hall. There was a thud as her door closed. Keith raised an eyebrow but ignored her strange behavior. She was probably still upset about work. Meg looked just as confused.

“Um, no, not really. It was just a lot of brain-dead TV time.” It was nice to have a normal conversation with someone for once. It sure beat begging Backup to stay awake and listen. She wondered when her life had become so pathetic that talking to her friend’s dad about menial things was the highlight of the day. Of course, her exchange with Veronica earlier had been a focal point in the day but all the fallout from that just wasn’t worth it. It didn’t qualify as a highlight if it caused Veronica to be all moody and strange. Keith tapped the countertop in front of him.

“Come over here and sit. At least I can pretend that one daughter wants to be in the same room as me,” he chuckled at himself. Meg planted herself on the stool opposite him. She had a feeling some sort of serious talk was about to occur. She decided to let that fact that Keith had almost just referred to her as a daughter slip. He swallowed and looked at her solemnly.

“We lost Duncan.”

Meg didn’t react at first. She wasn’t sure what that even meant. Was he dead, or just disappeared? Or something else? Keith looked her in the eye.

“It’s really amazing the eyewitnesses you can get with such a high-profile kidnapping. But despite that, it seems that he’s gone. I would guess he probably went east into Nevada. I really have no idea what he’s doing. Luckily, I have some contacts there so we’ll have to wait and see.” He glanced at her. “It’s a long story but Veronica thinks I over-stepped and that’s why we lost the source. She thinks a woman’s touch was a better approach. Who knows, really. But I want you to understand that we’re doing out best and... Veronica’s pretty upset about it, apparently.”

Meg didn’t want to tell him the other reason Veronica was upset. “It’s okay. I know you guys are trying. I guess she taught him well,” Meg smirked. Keith let out a sigh.

“It would appear that way, wouldn’t it?” He leaned back, obviously relieved by Meg’s calm response to the confession. “Honey, you can come out of hiding now. I already told Meg the bad news.”

“No thanks,” came the muffled reply from behind the door. Part of Meg couldn’t help but wonder if the real reason Veronica was so upset was because that meant she would be staying even longer in Neptune. It seemed like a very possible reason. Suddenly Veronica emerged, rushed to the sink to dump her dishes there and grabbed her keys. Both Meg and Keith regarded her curiously.

“Going somewhere?”

Veronica stood by the door and studied her father. “Dairy Queen.” Meg narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Her father glanced at his watch. “Ice-cream? At 11:30 at night?”

“Not any ice-cream. A large Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard with extra mud,” Veronica huffed impatiently.

Keith shrugged in response and pointed his fork at Meg. “Take Meg then. She’s going to get cabin fever if she stays here much longer.”

Meg felt like that one kid in school that your parents made you invite to a sleepover, just to be nice. She felt uncomfortable with the idea but she really wanted to get out for a little while, even if it had to be with someone who appeared to hate her at the moment. Veronica glared in her dad’s direction briefly. He ignored her. She made some sort of angry grumble and motioned for Meg to come along.

“Grab you sunglasses and hat,” she demanded, exasperated. Meg tied her hair up and slipped her ever-present Vancouver Canadians hat on. She followed quickly after Veronica.

 

▪▫▪

 

They hadn’t said anything to each other. Both had ordered their ice-cream, but said nothing else. Veronica drove down to the beach and parked her car. They both sat staring out at the empty, dark beach, quietly eating. Meg finally shoved her spoon into her dessert.

“You can drop me back and then go to Logan’s. I won’t tell your dad.” Meg didn’t like how she felt like Veronica was her older delinquent babysitter. And it didn’t help that the girl beside her was sulking the entire time as if she actually was.

“Who said I was going to Logan’s?” Veronica asked, her voice laced with an icy tone.

“I’m not stupid, Veronica.”

A long minute passed without a response from Veronica. “I’m not really with Logan,” she finally admitted.

“Not officially,” Meg added.

“Not at all.”

Meg gave her friend the best skeptical look she could muster. “Right.” After a pause, she continued. “Look, it’s not a big deal. It’s not like I’ve got anyone to squeal to. Your secret’s safe with me.” She tossed her cup out of the car, nearly succeeding in it landing in the trashcan. Veronica snorted at the attempt and tried herself. She missed even more dramatically. She let out a long sigh. Glancing over, Meg wondered if Veronica could be telling the truth. She didn’t have any reason to lie. She also had no reason to tell the truth.

There was another long exhale of breath from Veronica’s side of the LeBaron. She glanced at the time, thinking about school tomorrow. “I guess we’d better get back.” Meg nodded slowly. She looked over at her friend, trying to figure out what was going on in her head. She still seemed on edge about earlier and they had specifically not talked about anything even remotely related, which is probably what led to the awkward silence for most of the outing. Veronica glanced quickly at Meg but turned back to staring at the dark beach. The tension had settled over them again. Meg grimaced. Sharing a bed would be a million times weirder if they didn’t clear the air soon.

 She cleared her throat softly. “You know,” she started but was cut off.

“Don’t worry about it. Just forget it.” Veronica reached to turn the ignition but Meg grabbed her hand before she had the chance.

“I can’t. You’re being all strange and awkward. It’s kinda hard when you act like that,” Meg stated, not willing to just roll over and take crap from Veronica and her avoidance issues. “You always do this. You’re fine one minute, then you’re completely opposite and it’s really confusing.”

Veronica let out a small, derisive laugh. “I don’t think that’s really the confusing part.”

“Then what? Me?”

The small blonde withheld her trademark sigh that Meg had previously called her on in the past. “It doesn’t matter, Meg. Can’t you just drop it and we can go back to being friends again?”

“I was always your friend,” she said slowly. She grinned, “Well, you know, except this summer.”

“You know what I mean,” Veronica smirked.

“Yeah, I do. And if you can agree to stop being all strung out about it, then I can be your 'normal' friend again. Deal?”

“Deal.”

 

▪▫▪

 

Keith Mars was not a successful private investigator for no reason. He knew when something out of the ordinary was going on. He had hunches, relied on intuition. Granted, he didn’t always get things right, but he tried. Tonight was no exception. Veronica was upset about losing Duncan’s trail but he had a sense that her frustration was only compounded by something else that either happened at school or with her houseguest. She had shown up at his office full of piss and vinegar and no amount of coaxing with glazed donuts lightened her mood. When they arrived home from the office, and he witnessed the tension between his daughter and Meg, he realized that it had been the latter.

When Back Up started wagging his tail and pointing towards the door, Keith looked on curiously. As the thumping footsteps came closer, he knew who it was. The door opened quickly and Veronica bustled inside pulling Meg quickly. She slammed the door.

“Were you followed?” he immediately asked, studying his daughter’s demeanor. Veronica shook her head emphatically, dropping her keys in a jangley heap on the countertop. Meg hung her hat on the hook and glanced around. Both girls seemed to be far more relaxed than before. Keith felt a moment of triumph for his simple yet successful scheme. Veronica wasn’t sulking anymore and Meg was visibly more comfortable than she had been prior to going out. Whatever kinks the girl’s had seemed to work themselves out.

“’Night, Mr. Mars,” Meg chimed and made her way towards Veronica’s room. The shorter blonde plopped herself down beside her father on the sofa. She glanced nosily at the crossword he was attempting as he said goodnight to their guest.

“Chad Michael Murray,” she stated matter-of-factly. He glanced curiously at her.

“21 down. Murray,” she added for clarification. “ _One Tree Hill_. See, I’m a teenager, I know who all the cute TV boys are,” she said with a cheeky smile.

He nodded and scribbled in the answer she gave. “So, you feeling better?” he asked, with a smirk.

“Yeah,” she grinned. “All a girl needs is a little ice-cream.” She paused for a second, biting down on her lip lightly. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

“I know,” Keith chuckled as he wrote in another answer. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“I am.” She stood up as she heard Meg exit the washroom and pad softly back into her bedroom. “Night, night.” She pecked her father quickly on the top of his bowed head.

 

▪▫▪

 

By the time Veronica got back into her room, Meg was lying down, back towards the room. She rolled over and watched her friend. Sitting down at her desk, Veronica flipped open her laptop. Meg merely observed the smaller girl for a few minutes. Veronica gave no indication about what she was doing.

“You sleeping tonight?” Meg asked finally, breaking the silence. Veronica looked over, her face glowing an eerie blue from the screen.

“Yeah, just have some emails and stuff to do. Night.”

“K, goodnight,” Meg sighed and turned over. Veronica was still being weird but it wasn’t as annoying as before so she tried to ignore it and fall asleep. After what seemed like forever surfing random internet sites, Veronica decided that Meg was asleep. She powered down her computer and crept stealthily over to her bed, crawling under the blankets with as little disturbance as possible. She had no idea that Meg was still very much awake.

When Veronica finally settled down, letting out a long sigh and closing her eyes, Meg rolled onto her other side so she could see the girl sleeping next to her. Veronica’s eyes shot open and she quickly turned to face the other girl. She regarded Meg with a mixture of apprehension and bewilderment. Meg didn’t say anything at first. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously for a moment and she clenched her teeth briefly. Veronica, in an attempt to ignore her, returned her gaze to stare at the ceiling, trying not to glance curiously at the other blonde. Meg huffed out an annoyed breath and frowned. So much for their truce.

Meg suddenly propped herself up on one elbow and stared hard Veronica, squinting in the dim light of the bedroom. Veronica kept her gaze locked on the ceiling. She refused to give into whatever Meg was about to accuse her of. There was light breeze as Meg positioned herself directly in Veronica’s line of sight. She hovered precariously close to her face.

“I thought we had a deal.”

Veronica tried not to swallow the lump forming in her throat as suddenly her heart began pumping faster. Whether it was due to nervousness or something else, Veronica couldn’t decide. Meg had her trapped between her arms. She kept as much of her composure as she could under the circumstances. She couldn’t be sure if Meg was going to try to smack her or just glare at her angrily for the entire night. She certainly wasn’t sure if she could remember being this specific kind of nervous in a long, long time.

“We do,” she breathed out, sounding more cowardly than she had intended. Meg squinted at her again, trying to figure out what was going on. Veronica let out a small chuckle. “See, this is exactly why I was hoping you were asleep.”

“Funny,” Meg smirked.

“It’s a gift,” Veronica quipped in reply, shrugging as her pulse moved even quicker. She had known that Meg was capable of being just the same as any other 09er. She had seen glimpses of the 09er-Meg when she had asked about what happened at Shelley’s party. Her abruptness and avoidance were displayed in striking contrast to the Meg Veronica had been getting to know. Now Meg wasn’t pulling punches anymore. She wasn’t giving up and she wasn’t backing down. Veronica wished that just someone in the world would be exactly the same on the inside as they made themselves out to be on the outside.

Meg continued to stare down on her, almost frozen. She didn’t seem at all affected by anything. But Veronica had no idea that her friend was feeling far more volatile than she let on. Her blood pumped furiously through her veins as her stomach twisted in and out of uncomfortable knots. She had never been particularly good at confrontations. Hted them, more like. And in the last 24 hours, she’d had far more than her quota. She could smell the light scent of leftover perfume on the girl below her. It made her even more nervous.

It was only a few milliseconds before it happened that Veronica finally figured out what Meg was really planning. Like earlier that afternoon, the kiss was soft, hesitant and careful. Meg quickly pulled back, studying the other face for any signs whatsoever. Confusion was the only thing that made its way to the surface. Well, at least it wasn’t anger.

Not willing to give up that easily however, Meg leaned down again, brushing her lips a little harder against Veronica’s, slowly moving down to her jaw, then along the smooth surface of her neck. Veronica gasped at the contact, trying to resist the urge of her eyes to close. This was Meg: Friend Meg. Straight Meg. Naïve Meg. Ex-Girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend Meg. Mother of Duncan’s child Meg. But for some reason, this Meg was a completely different person. She had to admit; it had been a while since anyone had kissed her like this and her body’s reaction, pent up since the previous night, sent her nerves humming in anticipation.

Meg however was reaching the end of what she could risk. The gasp had been fun, but Veronica seemed as though she was frozen solid, locked in position. Kissing Veronica Mars was easy. Everything else was the hard part. She had no idea what the real reaction would be once she recovered from the shock. In her opinion, Veronica had swung open the door earlier in the day and now she had nothing to lose, except possibly a roof over her head and the best private investigators California had to offer. All the same, Meg knew her friend would never mention any of this to her father, and with that knowledge, she had a sense of security in her near future. Once again. she pulled back to watch the reaction. When none immediately came, she lay down again, facing Veronica as she patiently waited for any kind of response.

“Um,” Veronica mumbled, offering nothing more – no more clues as to her true feelings. After a tense couple of minutes, she finally turned her head.

“You, Meg Manning, are one surprising girl. Not many dare kiss me without permission.” There was a hint of a grin on her lips. Meg sighed, a half-cocked smile gracing her face.

“What can I say? You’re irresistible, Veronica Mars.” She shrugged, laughing lightly.

“Ooh, I like the sound of that. Usually people describe me a little more on the ‘deplorable’ or ‘irritating’ side of things.”

“I never said you weren’t those too.” Veronica pushed her away in mock-hurt. Meg laughed again, pulling up slightly closer to her friend when she crawled back over. Veronica felt the warmth radiating off of her. They both lapsed into silence, debating what to say next. Finally, Meg broke the silence,

“It’s weird.”

“Yeah,” Veronica breathed out, relieved that Meg had said it first. “It’s not you, Meg. It’s the idea.”

“I know, I know. Well, maybe even weirder for me. It feels as if I should be hating myself or feeling really guilty, but I don’t. I mean, I did at first, but now it’s different.” She caught Veronica’s gaze. “You make it feel okay.”

There was a tone to Meg’s voice that gave Veronica pause. She sounded different, her voice lacking the boldness of a few minutes ago. Instead, it was laced with an intimate sincerity, and a little sadness. Her own voice caught in her throat when she attempted to echo the same kind of sentiment. She didn’t feel guilty herself, and if she was honest with herself, it wasn’t particularly weird once she got over the fact Meg was one of her best friends at the moment. When she realized that she could imagine that kissing Wallace would evoke the exact same feelings, she felt as if she had an epiphany. It wasn’t weird because Meg was a girl, it was weird because Meg was a friend. Somehow, although it actually made things more complicated, it felt easier, as if a weight was lifted.

Meg was still staring, unsure and apprehensive about Veronica’s response. Her brown eyes glistened momentarily as they caught an errant thread of moonlight.

“Good. You deserve that.”

Meg offered a subtle smile in relief. Her confession wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to swallow. Veronica moved closer, her mouth millimeters from Meg’s, pausing temporarily to let everything sink in. It really was happening. She closed the distance, feeling the growing familiarity of the other girl’s lips. This time she didn’t freeze up, her hand sliding softly into Meg’s hair, holding her closer. It was comfortable, even when she felt Meg’s hand warm and tight against her side, tugging her closer almost imperceptibly. It was impossible to hold back the natural progression of their kiss as it deepened into a less innocent version of what had come before.

Their kisses broke a little more often as the intensity increased. This time when Meg’s fingers slid underneath the protective cover of her tank top, Veronica didn’t wonder why. Her hand was hot against her skin as she moved it up. However, Meg hesitated going any further for the time being. She already had her fingers splayed across the smooth skin of Veronica’s back, her thumb almost close enough to brush against the side of her breast. She could feel the warm body pressed up against her and when Veronica began to giggle, she felt it before she heard it. She backed up, an amused look on her face.

“Ticklish or something?”

Veronica giggled a little more. “Yeah, but that’s not what I was thinking about.” Meg looked over. She could swear the other girl’s face was flushed even in the dim light of her bedroom. “Okay, maybe it’s more pathetic than funny but this is most amount of fooling around I’ve ever done in here in my entire high school career.”

“Logan? Duncan?”

“Nope. Nada. As if my dad would allow a boy to stay over and make-out with his daughter. He’s got the boys on his radar.” Meg flexed her fingers against Veronica’s skin as she listened. “Not the girls…” Veronica pulled Meg closer, resuming where she had interrupted them. Her teenage hormones raged beyond her control now. The knowledge that her father was only down the hall was the only thing holding her back. Meg, emboldened by the knowledge that she was delving into previously unmarked territory, let her fingers stray over Veronica’s skin, grazing the underside of her breast. Veronica sucked in a sharp breath, breaking their kiss abruptly. When she forced her eyes open, Meg was looking at her, unsure of what was supposed to happen next. Veronica’s hands moved quickly to the hem of the other girl’s tank top, gripping it and staring Meg in the eye.

“Veronica,” Meg breathed out, fully aware of the implications of the gesture. “Are you sure?”

“Are you?” she echoed, pausing, suddenly hesitant about the possibilities. She knew what she was feeling but she was unsure of the consequences. If Meg was uncomfortable, it changed everything. She had thrown the whole thing, this psuedo-relationship, into drive. She had been the trigger.

“Um, I think so,” she finally admitted after a long pause. She let a small smirk slip out as she drew one finger across and down Veronica’s stomach to her navel, and then back up again. “I mean, I can’t say it’s a bad idea until I try it right?”

“Yes,” Veronica agreed insistently and tugged up on Meg’s top, helping it over her head.

“Hmm, Veronica, you are pretty confident.”

“I didn’t get a 14 on that Purity Test for nothing,” she grinned. “Never underestimate a cute face, and as they say, the sweet ones are always the wildest.”

“Sweet ones? You?” Meg scoffed.

“Whatever floats your boat, gal pal.”

Meg didn’t feel like wasting any more energy on flirtatious words. Too many years had been spent worrying about her parents views and reactions that finally when they were no longer an issue, there was no point in throwing away any more time. She pushed her lips back against Veronica’s simultaneously trying to pull up her t-shirt as well, pulling back only enough to toss it aside. Lying half-naked in a bed with another girl who was also half-naked didn’t seem quite as awkward and strange as she had expected. Maybe it was Veronica’s reaction, persuasive and honeyed, that assured her it was okay, and, if anything, dared her further. Both girls’ hands roamed tentatively but freely, curiously as they both were aware of the effect of these actions. It was only after the fact that Veronica realized she was practically grinding against Meg’s thigh, seeking some sort of release for the built-up sexual frustration of the last 24 hours.

But her ears perked up when she heard the footsteps in the hallway. Trying to calm her breathing to something less obvious, she pulled back from Meg. Meg bit down on her bottom lip as she listened too. They faded into the carpeted room of her father’s and she let out a relieved breath. 

“Sometimes he peeks in to say goodnight,” Veronica explained. Meg nodded in understanding, and then licked her lips quickly. Veronica caught the movement and smirked.


	4. Four

It was amazing how easily people could slip back into routine. The awkwardness of the previous day magically disappeared, which, in itself, was weird. However, the weirdness was ignored. The only striking difference from their previous routine was that Meg slept in longer and when she did wake, she wandered around in her pyjamas, helping Keith make breakfast. To the Mars’, it was a sign that she was finally comfortable in their home.

Seven days after their admittedly all-too-awkward day, Meg was relaxing on the sofa, having a sandwich and watching noontime news. News usually bored her but it was different from the same old talk shows and soap operas that normally permeated the airwaves during the afternoon. There was a bustling as Veronica pushed her way into her apartment, humoring Back Up with a pat and dumping her bags in the armchair. She carried with her a strikingly familiar laptop. Meg’s eyes lit up, prompting a mischievous grin from the small blonde.

“A little lunchtime espionage?” Meg inquired, taking the offered laptop.

“You have no idea what I had to do to get that,” Veronica intoned, winking. Meg looked at her curiously.

“Don’t tell me, but I’ll bet the entire swim team was involved,” she teased.

“Do I look high to you?” she frowned, feigning insult.

Meg chuckled and opened her laptop, gazing at the familiar screen, excited that she wouldn’t have to spend another dull afternoon watching mind-numbing television. She could just play mind-numbing online games instead. She looked up at her friend. “Thank you.”

“No problem. You can really thank your sister for it,” Veronica sighed as she took a seat beside Meg on the couch, looking over her shoulder to see what Meg was doing. At the mention of her sister, Meg’s shoulders slumped perceptibly as a frown creased her face. She wanted to tell Lizzie and Grace that she was okay, that she would protect them. But not only was the idea of protecting them way too complicated for her, she couldn’t have any contact with them at all for obvious reasons. Veronica had told her about what happened and how she and Duncan found Grace. Meg had been touched that Duncan seemed to care that much about her little sisters. Veronica noticed the dramatic change in demeanor.

“Hey, don’t worry. We’ll get this chaos with Duncan all sorted and get you safe then I maybe can pass a message along. ‘Kay?”

Meg nodded, closing her laptop and staring hard at Veronica. “What are you doing wasting your lunchtime here?”

“Instead of spending it with the lovely, kind, non-judgmental _and_ completely friendly population of Neptune High, you mean?”

“Exactly.”

“Well, I had to drop off my booty.”

Meg coughed as she suffocated a little on a bite of her sandwich. Veronica looked at her, an eyebrow arched. “Your booty, I should say.”

“My booty?” Meg finally choked out.

Rolling her eyes, Veronica grinned. “Yeah! Pirates, booty, you know. The whole shebang. Jeez, Meg, you’ve been out of Neptune for too long. You’ve forgotten our own school’s motto.”

As the twinkle of Meg’s laughter faded, she looked at Veronica with a dark look that the small blonde was just getting used to seeing on her friend’s face. She had the hint of knowing smirk on her lips, almost as if she was thoroughly amused by some secret only she knew. “So what’s the real reason you came home for lunch? My laptop isn’t _that_ important.”

“I didn’t want you to be bored,” Veronica said carefully, trying to figure out what Meg was up to.

“Uh huh.” Meg wasn’t buying it and she watched as Veronica’s cheeks flushed gradually with a deep pink hue. Meg Manning was not a stupid girl, not nearly as naïve as Veronica had hoped. Under the taller girl’s stare, Veronica confronted the flashbacks she had been valiantly trying to repress for the duration of the morning. Last night. Her bed. Meg. Meg’s lips pressed against her own; their kisses fluctuating between impulsive and cautious. Her hands sliding over soft, warm skin and winding through the blonde strands. Meg’s fingers slipping past the waistband of her pj pants, this time not in an unconscious gesture.

She remembered the taste of Meg’s skin in the concave of her neck and shoulder, kind of fruity, almost like kissing a peach. More so, she remembered the taste of blood from biting down on her lip too hard in her desperate attempt to restrain any sound as Meg’s her fingers brought her to orgasm, as hard kisses dropped along her neck, and behind her ear. Shifting her weight, Veronica cursed her fair skin for betraying her as she failed to erase the thoughts from her conscious mind. Under the deluge of memories she finally admitted to herself that maybe she and Meg were a little more than just friends. In true Veronica Mars style, she prepared a witty comeback. But before she could use it, Meg was staring at the TV again, slouching back into the sofa cushions and apparently uninterested in the conversation any more.

As the show cut to commercial, Meg smiled. “You know,” she started thoughtfully. “I used to think I knew where you got your reputation as this hard-as-nails, don’t fuck with me, kinda girl. But you really are _so_ easy to read. Just a big, cuddly softie.”

For a moment, Veronica debated whether Meg was channeling Wallace. Was she really that easy to read? Was she that big a softie that someone like Meg, probably the softest of the softies, would catch on?

“Really?” Veronica asked skeptically. “May I remind you, Miss Manning, of your little, ‘Get tough, not even because it hurts everyone’s feelings’ speech,” she chuckled as she sat back against the sofa cushions as well, looking over at Meg.

“Hey, don’t drag me into this! You’re the one blushing beet red. It’s kinda cute actually,” she said with a shrug.

Veronica shook her head. “Shut up, Meg,” she grinned. If Meg was going to be the smart-ass for a change, she was going to change that. There was only room for one audacious and smart-alecky girl in this relationship. She got up on her knees and stared directly at Meg who stared back with some wavering intensity. She positioned herself as close as she could to her lips without touching. “Are your trying to test me?”

“Maybe.”

“Good.” A sly smile danced over her lips before she kissed Meg solidly. If Meg had thought she was just there for a quickie nooner, she wouldn’t disappoint. At times, it was fun being a teenager.

 

▪▫▪

 

With the knowledge that Keith Mars very rarely stopped by for lunch, Veronica and Meg had wasted no time actually going to the bedroom. Once again, Veronica was amazed that the first time she would be having sex on her living room sofa would be with Meg. A week ago, that idea would have seemed ridiculous. Now it was very …not.

Meg shifted, feeling Veronica’s soft weight above her, hands nudging and massaging as her lips crushed down on top of hers. She vaguely felt her tank top pushed up and her pajamas pushed down somewhere along the line. She didn’t care to dwell on specifics, especially with Veronica’s faint puffs of breath between kisses and her own soft moans echoed in the other girl. She raked her own fingers along the smooth plane of hot skin. The moment the waves began, Meg gripped tightly to the other girl, burying her face in the crook of the blonde’s neck as she failed to suppress the sounds of surprise and appreciation. Finally she let her head fall back in relaxation as she sucked in a deep breath. She opened her eyes to see Veronica still looking at her, that cocky little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, eyes twinkling.

“Shut up, Veronica,” Meg breathed, her shoulders and chest heaving with the effort as she reiterated Veronica’s earlier demand. She couldn’t resist the stupid smile from overtaking her own features as she came down slowly. With her remaining energy she grabbed Veronica’s head, sealing their lips together momentarily. Suddenly Veronica pulled back as she heard footsteps near her door. Seconds later, the knob began to turn. Meg scrambled to pull her clothes back into place, as Veronica quickly sat up, readjusting her t-shirt. Both girls were still breathing heavily, and Meg was in the process of hauling herself out of such a prone position, when the visitor looked in. He stood frozen for a moment, his eyes only moving to see Back Up running out of the bedroom to greet him.

Both girls froze, waiting. Wallace said nothing for a very long time. His gaze constantly volleyed back and forth between his best friend and the dead girl. He took in their state and it confused him even further. He scratched his forehead briefly and then ran his tongue along his bottom lip, still trying to assess the situation. Meg slowly moved into a sitting position beside Veronica, her eyes lowered to her suddenly incredibly interesting fingernails. Wallace closed the door quickly.

“Nah,” Wallace drawled finally, “You didn’t!?”

His friend winced, smoothing out her t-shirt. “Depends on what you’re thinking.”

“Meg?”

The taller girl looked up, her face flushing, and offered a small wave. “Hey.”

Wallace shook his head, refocusing. “ _What_ is going on here? Does your dad know?”

Veronica looked at the ceiling. “Once again, it depends what you’re curious about him knowing.” Wallace’s face set into a frown and Veronica noticed. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s a really sensitive situation and I couldn’t have anyone know anything or else it could screw everything up.”

The boy wandered over to an armchair and sank into it, staring at his blonde friend. “Okay, now you’re the one who has to clarify what you’re talking about. The Meg-being-back-from-the-dead thing or the... _other_ thing.”

“Meg. Being here. That’s what I was talking about.” Veronica stared at Wallace for a few moments. “What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were going to hang out with your cool b-baller friends.”

“I was! Then I was like, ‘Well, maybe V needs some company. It’s no fun to eat lunch alone at home’. And, ‘course, I secretly thought you were up to something.”

“Up to _nothing_ ,” Veronica mumbled. Wallace chuckled.

“Oh, by the looks of you two, it was definitely _something_ ,” he grinned. Both girls blushed profusely.

“How would you know?” Veronica snapped, holding back a smile of her own.

“Because you both look like a couple of sun-burnt pixies with your cheeks all rosy and pink. You know, I have a very finely tuned sense when it comes to the women-folk.”

“Sure you do, Casanova.”

Wallace’s smile faded. “Now, are you gonna tell me what’s going on? And more importantly, how you want me to help because people don’t just comeback from the dead everyday. _This_ has _got_ to be a good story. I want in on it. You can be, like, my wingman.” He winked at Veronica. She slowly shook her head at his audacity with a grin.

“Raincheck? Fifth period starts in about 6 minutes.”

He tapped his nose. “I’m holding you to it. I’ll come by after school. Meg, it’s been a slice,” he said with a wave. Veronica could only watch him in disbelief. She went about grabbing her things, resisting the domestic urge to kiss Meg goodbye. That would be too weird, wouldn’t it? Too familiar? She settled for a timid wave instead as she followed Wallace out of the apartment. As they left, Meg could hear Veronica questioning whether Wallace was a 1950 flashback after all. Meg smiled as she heard “Been a slice” repeated a few more times before the cars' engines started to life.


	5. Five

“You know, it’s a lot harder to get into the head of a crazy ex-boyfriend than one would think,” Veronica mused to herself as she studied a map of the west coast, trying to piece together Duncan’s projected path. Meg lay stomach-down beside her best friend trying to study the links Veronica had made already. The short blonde huffed in frustration and scribbled something in pencil on the side of the map. She sat back against the side of her bed.

There was knock on her bedroom door as Wallace eased his way in. Veronica jumped slightly at the intrusion. “I’m gonna have to take that spare key away. There are only so many surprises a day that I can handle.”

He chuckled as he set his backpack down and looked down at the map. “So what’s the scoop?”

“Sit down, young grasshopper. It’s going to take a while.”

 

▪▫▪

 

Veronica had been explaining the background to Meg’s reappearance for a little over 45 minutes now, with Meg filling in any blank spots Veronica forgot or couldn’t quite account for. She began to start on the current plans. She lay comfortably on her back, staring at the ceiling as she recited everything from memory, occasionally glancing over at Wallace for that glimmer of understanding, and to make sure he was still awake. Her head was propped up on Meg’s outstretched legs as the older girl slowly, almost unconsciously, stroked her fingers through the thin blonde strands of her paramour as they splayed out over her thighs. Meg leant back against the side of Veronica’s bed, relaxed in contentment.

For his part, Wallace was occasionally distracted by the image of his best friend with this other girl he’d never really known that well. He’d spoken to Meg on occasion at basketball games or on the bus after games, but he was usually pretty busy talking with other players and she spent a lot of time idly gossiping with the other cheerleaders. The intermittent flashes of imagination distracted him from Veronica’s tale. He couldn’t help it. To him, Veronica had always been a bit of a strange case, flip-flopping between bad choices in boyfriends and the single life. He hadn’t minded Duncan but there was something that nagged at him about that boy. And Logan, well, he’d never even really spoken to him and he wasn’t a fan of his to say the least. There had been others but Wallace sometimes tried not to pay attention.

Veronica mentioned something about a motel in Sacramento, and his thoughts immediately catapulted way out of the arena of Duncan-chasing.

“So is there gonna be a road trip involved?” he asked, interrupting her. She glared at him momentarily for his abrupt disruption but turned her attention to his question.

“I guess so. Why?” She seemed suspicious, but then again, it was a rare occasion when she wasn’t.

“Just curious,” he trailed off, trying not to give away the images roaming through his mind of his best friend and the head cheerleader going at it in a cheap motel. The intelligent side of his brain stepped in to halt the fantasy, reminding him that Veronica was still his best friend regardless of what her relationship with Meg was like. He quickly returned his attention to the story at hand. Veronica took her cue and picked up where she left off. Her eyes slipped shut, obviously enjoying Meg’s ministrations.

“So right now, my dad’s waiting on some word from his contacts in Nor Cal. He’s not sure exactly what they’ll find, if anything, but apparently an APB has been put out for any rental cars matching the kinds that Duncan’s rented in the last few weeks heading north on the highway. He’s predictable only in that way. And there are reports filed with state authorities and troopers will have his description. We think he’s probably heading to Washington but with him you can never be too sure. He’s drained his trust fund completely. I’m not exactly sure why that didn’t raise any red flags at the bank, but then again, he is a Kane and they’re consistently a pretty crazy bunch.”

Veronica reached up, opening her eyes, and trailed her hand through Meg’s long hair quickly as she sat up. She hunched over the map pointing out the red X’s indicated where Duncan or someone looking like Duncan with a baby had been spotted. “He’s apparently been to all these places. But with the troopers being on the lookout, it makes our job both easier and harder. Easier because they relay information here, through people my dad knows, but harder because if they’re after him too, we have to make sure to get to him first.”

Wallace frowned and looked first at Meg then at Veronica. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why don’t you just wait ‘til the cops pick him up, then take the baby from there?”

“Oh, young Wallace,” Veronica patronized, shaking her head slowly. “Want to take it from here, partner in crime?”

Meg grinned. “I’m dead as far as everyone knows, right? Well, I can’t get my baby back legally without, um, coming back from the dead. And I _really_ don’t want my parents to know anything or go to jail. I’ve got the whole thing set up with my aunt in Seattle. Kind of. Veronica here has some of the necessary documentation to make a break for it to Canada. And I don’t want to just kidnap my baby because obviously you guys would be accomplices to kidnapping.”

“But aren’t we already?” Wallace asked, confusion clear on his face. “I mean, either way, we’re kidnapping Lilly… from Duncan who already kidnapped her. It doesn’t seem to matter which way it’s done, the outcome is the same.”

“Faking your own death is a class D felony. If Meg came back to claim her daughter, she’d just go to prison anyway here in California and the baby would go right back to her parents. Duncan’s going to the clink too. You’ve got both of poor baby Lilly’s folks behind bars for their respective felonies, and the Mannings get exactly what they wanted in the first place.”

“But it’s not like she did it for a reason like fraud. Meg did it for a really good reason. Plus, it’s not like I’m saying Meg has to become un-dead. Just kidnap Lilly from the cops. Or the Mannings when she gets back here.”

“It’s just easier this way, okay Wallace?” Veronica snapped. Meg looked at her curiously.

 

He raised his hands in surrender. “Whatever you say, boss.” It still seem unnecessary to him. He sighed and looked closely at the X’s on the map as he planned on changing the direction of their discussion. “He’s kinda zigzagging, huh?”

“Sure is,” Veronica said tensely. “I just don’t understand why we’ve heard nothing else from anywhere north of Redding.” She seemed to get more uptight with every passing minute. There was something bugging her about the whole plan, besides the fact it pretty much made everyone involved with the plan part of the conspiracy and committing their own felonies and misdemeanors. It had seemed so simple at first: track down Duncan, get Lilly, take Meg to Seattle, then Aunt Chris takes Meg and Lilly to Canada to start over. But something wasn’t quite adding up and Veronica couldn’t figure out what it was. Adding to her frustration, Wallace was saying quite reasonable things but they didn’t fit in at all. She huffed out an exasperated breath as she stared blankly at the map on her floor. Meg scooted closer to the other girl, pulling her away from her troll-like hovering over the map. Veronica sat beside Meg with a thump and another sigh.

All three teenagers sat in silence as they each got lost in their respective thoughts. The silent contemplation did nothing to ease Veronica’s cascading doubts, or to halt her imagination. They all jumped when there was a knock on Veronica’s half-open door. Keith stood there, a perplexed look on his face upon seeing Wallace. He glanced over to his daughter for an explanation. She stared blankly back at him, trying to feign ignorance.

“Hello Wallace,” Keith said, realizing he wasn’t going to get anything from his daughter. “Interesting to see you here.”

“Mr. Mars, it’s really not Veronica’s fault.”

Keith smirked at his daughter, “It never is.” She rolled her eyes in response.

“I followed her home during lunch and...” Wallace glanced over at the two girls who were both glaring at him. “And just walked in and saw Meg. I wanna be in on this plan too,” he finished, trying to read the expressions on all of their faces.

“Well, what do you want to do for us?”

Wallace pretended to be deep in thought for a few moments until he grinned. “I can be like the Alfred to your Bruce Wayne.” He seemed pleased with himself.

“Oh, so I’m Batman?” Keith said dramatically, waving his invisible cape around himself. “You sure know how to butter-up a guy, Mr. Fennell. You’ve been hanging around my daughter for too long.” He chuckled for a second before turning to the girls as well. “I have a surprise tonight.”

“Aw, did you finally figure out how to glue a unicorn horn onto my pony?”

“No. But I did pick up some Chinese take-out on my way home. I’m sure Clip-Clop would like it better this way. C’mon and help yourselves.”

 

▪▫▪

 

Later that night, after Wallace had gone home, Keith and the girls were watching a movie on TV. It wasn’t particularly interesting, but watching a bunch of fictional kidnappers bumbling around was better than actually being those kidnappers, at least for the time being. Meg and Veronica were sitting comfortably on the loveseat while Keith took his place in the armchair. Veronica crunched loudly on some microwave popcorn. Meg pushed her as a hint to shut her up. She chewed louder.

“Veronica!” Meg whined, trying to concentrate of the dialogue in the film but being horribly distracted by the obnoxious, and purposeful, munching. With a chuckle, Veronica just leant over in the other girl’s ear and chewed with her mouth open, as loudly as possible. Keith watched them out of the corner of his eye. Veronica was leaning on Meg now, trying to piss her off and Meg did little more than complain and push her friend away half-heartedly. And that only incited the small blonde to push harder to annoy her. With an over-dramaticized swallow, Veronica stopped her crunching but she remained where she was, close enough to nuzzle Meg’s ear had she felt like it. Meg turned to face her, only a few centimeters apart.

Keith observed the exchange curiously. He could tell they were whispering something back and forth but it wasn’t possible to make out the exact words over the drone of the television set and the explosions onscreen. Finally, Meg laughed and shoved Veronica away, hard. The girls sat back and returned their focus to the movie. Keith sighed and took a sip of his tea as he wondered what was going on in the head of his only daughter.

Meg let out an impressive yawn and stretched slowly as the action began to die down, signaling the inevitable end of the film. She pulled herself out of the comfy cushions and wandered towards the bathroom.

“Goodnight, Mr. Mars,” she said sweetly. Keith corrected her for what felt like the hundredth time, insisting she could call him Keith. She laughed lightly and continued down the hall. Veronica continued to watch the film, a solemn expression on her face. Keith vaguely heard the click of bathroom door closing.

“Veronica?”

“Hmm?” She nodded but didn’t look in his direction. Either she was thoroughly engrossed in the ridiculous plot or she was purposely avoiding his gaze.

“Is there anything you’d like to tell me?”

“About?”

Keith paused for a moment. She was going to make this hard. He should have expected as much. “I don’t know. Anything bothering you? You seem a little down.”

“I’m fine,” she said cheerily, still focused on the screen. “Everything’s okay.”

“Okay,” Keith conceded and pursed his lips together in thought. It wasn’t like he wanted to pry, he just felt that there was something going on that he didn’t know about. Something about Meg or Duncan or both and the idea that it could be important to the case worried him. Another part of his brain continued to nag about his daughter’s relationship with their houseguest. Something had shifted, but where and how much was another question altogether. For her part, Veronica knew exactly what her dad was digging around for. She certainly wasn’t going to offer it up. It wasn’t that she was worried about his feelings on the subject. It was more so because she didn’t want to make it into a big deal. Somehow it would evolve into a big deal if her father got involved, whether he meant well or not. And, plus, she kinda liked the ability to share a room with Meg with no restrictions.

The credits began to roll up the screen as some metal band wailed away on electric guitars.

“Honey. Veronica, look at me.”

Reluctantly, Veronica turned to her father. “I just want you to know that you should never have to feel like you need to hide anything from me.”

The younger girl bit her lip briefly, trying to decide what to say, before nodding. “I know.”

Keith paused for another moment. “I’m your dad. I’ll love you no matter what.”

The declaration nearly provoked Veronica to just blurt it out, but as she looked up and saw Meg standing there, confused in the entrance to the hallway. She looked worriedly at her friend. Keith turned to see Meg. She apologized quickly, and moved to the cupboards, grabbing a cup. “Just wanted a cup a of water, sorry.” She scampered back down the hall into Veronica’s room. As Keith returned his stare to Veronica, he forced a tight smile. Looking very similar to the proverbial deer, Veronica fidgeted and ran a hand through her hair.

“I trust that if you have any problems or anything important to say, you’ll come to me.”

_Talk about laying on the guilt-trip thick_ , Veronica thought to herself. She merely nodded again. Sensing her growing discomfort, Keith let out a smile.

“Now, go to bed, kiddo. You’ve got school tomorrow morning.”

 

▪▫▪

 

When Keith Mars burst in the next morning at exactly 6:06 AM, Veronica was glad she had grudgingly pulled on her pajamas after Meg so ineloquently pulled them off last night. Of course, she hadn’t put them back on right away, she thought with a smirk. But as she was jolted awake by the sound of her name being called cheerily, she groaned and squinted up at her clock. She felt Meg roll over beside her. Both girls looked sleepily at Keith.

“C’mon, honey. Up you get!”

Veronica rubbed her eyes and pushed her messy hair back from her face. “Dad, it’s like 6 in the morning. I don’t have school ‘til 9.” She yawned loudly, trying to make a point. Meg stretched out as best as she could in the small bed.

“Oh, but you’re not going to school today. Today’s the big day.”

Veronica flopped down face-first into her pillow. “Big day for what?” she grumbled, almost completely muffled by the pillow.

“Pack your stuff. You too, Meg. We’ve got a baby-napper to track down.”

Meg’s jaw dropped. _Duncan_. Keith had finally tracked him down, and just as she was happily settling into this strange new life. It hit her that this morning would be the last time she would ever see Neptune. And this time for sure. Keith saw the reaction on Meg’s face and his excited demeanor changed slightly. “I’ll give you girls an hour to get packed and ready to go. Duncan’s in Oregon right now, so grab enough for a few days, Veronica,” he mentioned as he left the room.

_Grab enough for the rest of your life, Meg_ , the taller blonde told herself. Veronica, who was now fairly awake, turned to look at Meg.

“You ready for this?”

Meg let out a long sigh. “I guess so.” Veronica gave her a sympathetic smile before leaning over and kissing her softly.

“It’ll be fine.”

 

▪▫▪

 

Meg was dragging her stuffed suitcase down the short hall from Veronica’s room, when there was a knock at the door. Keith and Veronica were waiting in the living room. The older man let out a chuckle when he opened the door. Wallace stepped inside, a very full backpack slung over one shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” Keith gave him a once-over. Wallace dumped his bag alongside Veronica’s.

“I’m coming with you guys.”

Veronica looked at him with amusement and disbelief. “I didn’t call him,” she explained before her father could ask the inevitable question. “He’s a psychic.” Keith chuckled and gave Wallace a heavy pat on the shoulder.

“Excellent. We can use those skills of yours, Wallace. Has your ESP shown you how your mother is going to react when she finds out you’ve traversed half the country tracking down a Kane baby instead of studying for those lovely SATs you kids write?”

Wallace shrugged and grinned widely. “I’ve got it covered.”

“Is that what the basketball is for?” Veronica inquired as the aforementioned object rolled across the living room floor.

“Sure is. Can’t go on a basketball road-game series to pretend schools without the bare necessities.”

Meg finally made her way into the living room and dropped her suitcase with the other luggage. Keith grabbed the handle before motioning to the other bags with his free hand. “Okay gang, let’s get this show on the road.” He led the kids out the door and Meg glanced at the Mars abode for the final time. She let out a long sigh. Veronica elbowed her softly.

“Don’t get all sentimental on me now, Manning.” She smiled softly at the taller girl. Meg looked back at her, trying to keep the smile on her face as she pulled on her baseball cap. Wallace grinned at Veronica’s comment and continued out the door. Veronica turned and followed him, leaving Meg to trail along behind her friends and out of the apartment.


	6. Six

It was nearing 8:30 PM when the full sedan pulled onto the streets of Klamath Falls in southern Oregon, just past California’s northern border. Keith Mars was scanning the streets for the Maverick Motel. He was tired of driving, and granted, he could just allow Veronica or Wallace to take over, but he wasn’t sure if chasing Duncan Kane by moonlight was among his list of “must-dos” in life. Veronica and Wallace both had driven for a few hours when he needed to check some info via laptop. Meg had watched curiously as he typed furiously, all the while chatting on his cell phone to some mysterious informant who was known only as “Rod”.

It turned out that Veronica shouldn’t have been quite so frustrated with her lack of success in figuring out where Duncan was. He, in the grand style of Duncan Kane, had decided to randomly jolt into northern Nevada for some as-of-yet unknown reason. Keith suggested that he probably had some hint that the state patrol was onto him. If he dodged into Nevada before heading into Oregon, it would throw them off. And it had worked, until an old friend of Keith’s had seen the alert in the business channels and called him up. The elder Mars had always insisted it was good to have friends in low places. Rod, since he apparently had nothing better to do, followed Duncan back into Oregon but lost him soon after. Now, Keith was awaiting another contact on the Oregon coast. The PI network was incredibly helpful, which, in itself was rather strange. Keith assumed it was because everyone knew how important Duncan was to him and his daughter. Respect was an odd thing for a bunch of people who spent most of their lives tracking down cheating lovers and insurance frauds. Meg marveled at how these people could establish a higher level of trust and respect between each other than all the residents of 90909 put together.

Now Keith huffed out a tired breath as he drove down the main drag. Wallace was staring blankly at the passing street lamps as Veronica was sleeping in the backseat opposite Meg, her head resting at an uncomfortable looking angle against the door of the car. Meg was still wide awake, unable to get her mind of the fact this would be the last time she would see everyone. Last time, when she had seen Veronica in the hospital, it had been different. Things had been so busy, her whole life since waking up from her coma had been a huge blur of deceptions and goodbyes. Since returning she had spent far more time with Veronica and Keith than she would have ever imagined. It made this time different, and harder.

The car swerved into a parking lot and pulled up under the carport alongside the lobby. After a few minutes, Keith came back waving key cards. Veronica, who had woken up when Keith closed the door the first time, was peering sleepily at the offered cards.

“How many do you have?” she asked hesitantly.

“4. Because I figured you girls would prefer not to sleep in the same room as an old man. And you can decide what to do with Wallace, whether you want it to be a kiddie slumber party, or a ‘girls only’ affair.”

Wallace smirked, knowing exactly what Veronica was thinking. “I’ll bunk with you, Mr. Mars. There’s no way Veronica will let me watch ESPN.”

Keith shrugged. “That was easy. You girls okay with that?”

Both nodded in response.

“Okay then. Wake up, Veronica. It’s not bedtime yet. Anyone want some dinner?”

“Didn’t we already have dinner?” she grumbled as Keith pulled the car up in front of their rooms.

“We did, sort of. I figured you growing kids might be hungry. It's been a long, strenuous haul.”

“Right, I forgot sitting in the backseat of a car for 12 hours was added to the summer Olympics.”

Keith stared at his daughter for a moment before tossing her keycard at her. “Fine, go to bed. Wallace? Meg?” The remaining teenagers nodded that they were peckish enough to eat. Veronica let out a long sigh and slammed the car door, following them across the street to a small diner. She normally wasn’t such a brat but something about the excessively long car ride and her cascading and confusing feelings towards Meg weren’t allowing her to relax. And she was getting more nervous about confronting Duncan as the hours passed. As she reached out to hold the door open, her hand trembled. She quickly slapped it against the cool glass to calm her nerves. As Meg glanced back, she had seen Veronica’s reaction. Looking around quickly, she spotted the customer washroom in the far corner. Keith and Wallace were walking to an open table when Meg grabbed Veronica’s arm. Keith looked at them curiously.

“We’ll be right there. Bathroom break,” Meg said quickly, pulling roughly on Veronica who resisted weakly but eventually trudged along behind her friend.

Meg slammed the bathroom door behind herself as she stared hard at the smaller blonde girl. Veronica hopped up to sit on the counter top and stared evenly at Meg, her fingers tapping idly against the green Formica surface. The scent of disinfectant wafted around her, causing a sickening lump to form in the back of her throat. Or maybe that was nerves too.

“Are you okay?” Meg finally asked, moving a little closer.

Veronica shrugged nonchalantly. “Peachy.” At the rise of one eyebrow, she reluctantly added, “Tired.”

“Does being tired usually make you tremble?”

“What are you talking about?” Veronica wasn’t really sure if she wanted to get into anything with Meg in some strange bathroom in Oregon. “I really am just tired. It’s not a big deal.” Meg bit down on her bottom lip as she studied Veronica. After a few moments of Veronica dodging her concerned gaze, Meg sauntered towards the other girl and gently took her hands. As she felt the shaking she looked up with a skeptical grin.

“You must be really, really tired.”

Veronica quickly pulled her hands away from Meg and glared distrustfully at her. For her part, Meg ignored the other girl’s unfriendly reaction to her concern. By now she was used to it. She looked down as Veronica’s knuckles turned white from gripping the edge of the countertop. There wasn’t really any way she could think of to get Veronica to start talking even if she suspected she knew the reason why her friend was so nervous.

Maybe talking wasn’t the best idea anyway. She pulled gently on the edges of the other girl’s jacket, and was surprised as Veronica complied so easily. She slipped off the sink counter and stood in front of Meg for only a brief second before two warm arms slipped around her. She paused momentarily before burying her face in the crook of Meg’s neck, taking deep breaths to inhale the comforting scent of the only girl to ever love her. Meg pulled her tighter as she felt Veronica’s arms wrap snugly around her in return. She needed some reassurance just as badly as Veronica. She let out a tired sigh and pulled back. Veronica didn't drop her arms hands immediately, her fingers entwined with Meg’s hair as she cupped the face of the girl in front of her.

“You shouldn’t worry that pretty little head about me. Your life is about to start over.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls.”

With a shrug, Veronica quirked her lips. “Only the ones I try to force into Witness Protection. For my benefit, of course.”

Meg chuckled lightly, her voice laced with a twinge of nervousness at the reminder at how different her life really was about to become. She rested her forehead against Veronica’s and closed her eyes.

“You don’t have to be scared,” Meg said, her voice just above a whisper. “That’s my job.” She moved and gently kissed the small blonde on the lips. Veronica smiled for a brief moment, appreciating the sentiment, before the well-used smirk sneaked back onto her face.

“Shut up, Meg,” she chuckled and pulled her into a harder kiss, thankful for the release in tension.

“Way to ruin the moment, Veronica,” Meg chided. Veronica rolled her eyes with a smile of her own and pulled open the washroom door, ready to eat some dinner in this strange, cold town.

 

▪▫▪

 

An hour and a half later, Meg lay on the old hotel bed idly flipping through the Gideon Bible from the nightstand. She winced as the spine of the book cracked as she pushed open the page to The Song of Solomon. It was pretty random but she had to admit that she hadn’t touched a Bible since the day before flying off that cliff.

“For your love is better than wine.

Your oils have a pleasing fragrance,

Your name is _like_ purified oil;

Therefore let the maidens love you.

Draw me after you _and_ let us run _together!_ ”

A small smirk fluttered across the elder Manning’s features as she skimmed the rest of the prose. Two years ago, reading the Bible and relating it to her relationship with another girl would have seemed entirely too blasphemous to even contemplate. One year ago, she would have denied who she was thinking about as she read the lines. A week ago she would have ignored the Book completely. Stealing a glance over at Veronica, she watched her for a moment as the other girl was absorbed in tapping away furiously at her laptop. She wondered briefly if Veronica was going to suffer from chronic high-blood pressure when she was older. She got worked up about the strangest things sometimes. When Veronica failed to return the glance, Meg looked back down at the text in front of her.

         O prince's daughter!  
         The curves of your hips are like jewels,  
         The work of the hands of an artist.   
     Your navel is _like_ a round goblet  
         Which never lacks mixed wine;  
         Your belly is like a heap of wheat  
         Fenced about with lilies.   
Your two breasts are like two fawns,  
         Twins of a gazelle.   
    Your neck is like a tower of ivory,  
         Your eyes _like_ the pools in Heshbon  
         By the gate of Bath-rabbim;  
         Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,  
         Which faces toward Damascus.   
     Your head crowns you like Carmel,  
         And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads;  
          _The_ king is captivated by _your_ tresses.   
    How beautiful and how delightful you are,  
          _My_ love, with _all_ your charms!   
     Your stature is like a palm tree,  
         And your breasts are _like its_ clusters.   
     I said, 'I will climb the palm tree,  
         I will take hold of its fruit stalks.'  
         Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,  
         And the fragrance of your breath like apples,   
    And your mouth like the best wine!"

 

By the time she had finished reading the passage, Meg could feel eyes on her. She turned to see Veronica watching her with a quizzical look. Meg shrugged but couldn’t completely wipe the pleased grin from her face. It only increased Veronica’s confusion. She crawled off her own bed and sauntered over to where Meg was laying and climbed up beside her, peering inquisitively over her shoulder.

“Whatcha reading?”

Meg flipped the book closed and showed Veronica the title. Veronica looked perplexed for a moment before smiling. “Oh you crazy kids and your crazy ideas.” She nudged Meg playfully as she opened it back to the place she was reading before. Meg flipped back a few pages and let out a long sigh. Veronica pressed up against her and tried seeing what Meg found so entrancing.

“You have made my heart beat faster with a single _glance_ of your eyes, with a single strand of your necklace. How beautiful is your love, my sister, _my_ bride,” Veronica read aloud. “Sister bride. Interesting... Bible porn.” Her voice held a hint of dismissal.

“Don’t be so literal,” Meg complained. “It’s a love story, and an allegory. But it’s really just a love story.”

Veronica looked down at the text again. “I know. It’s pretty,” she said softly, and then smiled widely at Meg. There was a pause as a smile crept onto Meg’s face as well, right before she leaned forward and kissed Veronica, tasting the familiar flavor of cherry lip balm on the tip of her tongue as she deepened their kiss. Veronica was instantly threading her hands through the blonde strands of her girlfriend, pulling her closer and back until Meg lay half-covering the smaller girl below her. Meg’s free hand roamed over the well-learned curves, under the t-shirt, sliding to cup one small breast in her hand, her thumb skimming over an erect nipple through the fabric of the bra. Groaning in appreciation, Veronica pressed her body up.

A loud knock on the door made Meg jump back in surprise. Veronica scampered over to gaze through the peephole and she opened it with a flourish.

“What a surprise!” she exclaimed as Wallace wandered in, giving her a strange look. Meg wiped her lips self-consciously. Wallace caught the action and raised his eyebrows.

“I’m not interrupting, right?”

Veronica glanced quickly at her friend and then shook her head slowly. “Nope. Did my dad kick you out so he can make some top secret phone calls?”

Wallace narrowed his eyes at his best friend for a moment. “No. He’s showering. I felt weird, sitting there, waiting for your dad to come out of the shower.”

“But isn’t that just like the basketball trip you’re supposedly on right now. A bunch of guys, uncomfortably showering in the same room?”

“Not your dad!”

Meg laughed at the predicament. Wallace shook his head in disbelief at the mind of his friend. No one else in the world would tease their best friend about showering with their dad. He grabbed the remote control from the top of the TV and flicked on the movie guide channel, taking a seat on the edge of Veronica’s bed. Meg was now sitting cross-legged on her own, watching everything with a watchful eye. Veronica crossed her arms across her chest and looked curiously at Wallace.

“You can make yourself more comfortable, you know.”

“I know that,” Wallace said with a grin, continuously flicking through channels. Veronica strolled over to Meg’s bed and climbed up beside her. They exchanged a glance that the boy couldn’t quite decipher. Veronica caught him staring and stuck out her tongue at him. Meg turned to smile at him and as she was distracted, Veronica grabbed her around her shoulders with both arms and wrestled her to bed, prompting a squeal as she was tackled. They lay back on the bed and Veronica turned to put an arm lightly over Meg, nestling into the fluffy pillow. Wallace rolled his eyes and hopped up further on Veronica’s recently vacated bed. He settled on ESPN.

There was a muffled groan from the petite blonde. Both Wallace and Meg peered at her inquisitively. “I am completely aware that you used the ESPN thing as an excuse to let Meg and I have the room to ourselves, but there was a very large element of truth to it, you know. Change the channel.”

Wallace let out a short laugh, shaking his head. “With everything I do for you, Veronica Mars, and I can’t even watch a little basketball.”

“Ugh, fine,” she sighed in surrender. “Watch your boring hoops.”

“I see you forgot your Neptune's Best Cheerleader mug at home,” Wallace muttered but remained entranced by the box scores flashing across the bottom of the screen.

Meg kept her comments to herself. She could definitely think of something less boring, but that didn’t involve having an audience, regardless of how good a friend he was. To be honest, she was slightly put off by the interruption but took it in stride. They still had all night. In fact, it may be better this way since it appeared that Veronica was asleep, or at least dozing already. She sometimes had the oddest habits. Meg stared at the screen as she tried to care about what was happening in the game. It used to be a talent.

As the buzzer went for the end of the quarter, Veronica stirred. She rolled over and stuck out her hand. “There’s no way you’re watching the boring talk about what you just saw,” she said, thrusting her hand impatiently. Wallace reluctantly handed over the remote and sighed. He glared at her for a moment before standing up and stretching.

“Wonder if your dad’s out of the shower yet.”

“Only one way to find out,” Veronica mumbled as she flicked through the channels again. “Surprise him.”

He scowled at the suggestion. “You really want me out of here, don’t you?”

Veronica turned slowly to her best friend. “My dear Wallace, if you were on a trip with _someone_ … and you had a hotel room to yourself, would you really want to spend the night with me in the room as well?”

He grinned even wider. “Depends who that _someone_ is.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re trying to get me to say it, aren’t you?”

Shrugging slightly, he glanced at Meg. Veronica shook her head incredulously. “Go party it up with my dad. You can talk all about guy things like cars and chicks and bolstering the patriarchy.”

“How'd you know overthrowing women's lib was our secret agenda?”

“Call it a lucky guess. Now, scoot. I need my girlie time.”

“Need a secretary to take minutes?” he laughed as he walked towards the door. A pillow narrowly missed his head and he ducked, quickly opening the door to escape. “Good night, girls.” There was a quiet click as the door locked behind him. Both girls sat in silence for a while. It wasn’t so easy just to pick up where they had been interrupted. Finally Meg took a deep breath and broke the silence.

“Veronica?” Her voice was soft. Their eyes met and locked. “I need you to promise me something.”

Unsure about where the conversation was heading, she merely nodded in response.

“I know that in a couple days you’re going back to your normal life and I’m going to start all over and we’ll probably never really see each other again.” She paused. She knew how it was going to sound and she hadn’t wanted it to come out so clingy. Still, she needed some assurance that she wasn’t going to be lost completely. “But don’t forget about me, okay?”

Veronica resisted the urge to chuckle. It wasn’t at the sentiment so much as the impossibility that she ever could forget anything that had happened. Meg was so inextricably linked with her life the past year or two that she wondered if she’d ever be able to extract herself from the 09ers web. “I don’t think that’ll be an issue.”

“Well, I know I’ll never forget the taste of cherry lip balm.” Meg said nothing more. She licked her lips absent-mindedly, unconsciously reminded of the flavour. With a tweak of her own lips, Veronica scooted forward. Meg had only a brief second to cock an eyebrow before she was again met with a cherry Lipsmacker kiss.

“I don’t want to talk about goodbyes,” Veronica puffed between kisses. Meg agreed silently by entwining her fingers in the other girl’s hair and pulling her closer. It took only a few seconds for Veronica to find herself on her back again under the weight of the eldest Manning girl. She wasn’t sure if this was going to be the last night they spent together and had a plan in mind. However, it didn’t involve the zealous enthusiasm that Meg was displaying. Being flat on her back, although incredibly enjoyable under the circumstances, also didn’t bode well for her plan. Regardless of her intentions, she was willing to wait and let Meg continue. With an appreciative groan, the smaller blonde arched up against Meg, who was absorbed in placing kisses behind her ear and down the delicate jawline. Veronica was surprised by the gasp that escaped from Meg as her fingers snuck beneath Meg’s tank top and made contact with the warm skin. She let out a small chuckle.

Meg let out a sigh. “Your fingers are cold,” she said quietly into Veronica’s ear, her voice much huskier than the other girl was accustomed to. It sent shivers down her spine, triggering a soft warmth to spread out from there. Meg noticed the reaction and used the momentary distraction to mirror Veronica’s previous action. She pushed Veronica’s shirt up quickly. Veronica tossed it aside feeling the crisp air of an Oregon autumn night. She sucked in a breath, partly in response to the chill and partly due to Meg’s tongue which was now circling one nipple. Veronica savoured the sensation for a few moments before abruptly pushing Meg back. The girl looked thoroughly confused and with a pang of guilt, Veronica noticed she looked hurt as well. Quickly trying to rectify the situation before the desire evaporated, she blurted,

“It’s not what you think.”

The comment confused Meg even more and she bit down on her bottom lip, trying to figure out what was going on. If Veronica knew what she was thinking, it could very well be the same thing. Veronica brushed back her hair and clambered to sit up, meeting Meg eye-to-eye. She kissed the puzzled girl slowly in some sort of attempt at apology. Meg complied willingly as Veronica lifted her shirt off her. She dragged her down beside her so they lay face to face.

“I want to try something,” Veronica said delicately as she slipped her hand over the curves in front of her. “And I need to do it now before I lose my nerve.” Meg visibly relaxed and smiled. Of course, it had been exactly what she was thinking.

“I’m all yours.”

Now it was Veronica’s turn to be caught off-guard. The gravelly sound of Meg’s voice combined with the sentiment scared her slightly. It was trusting and serious and full of expectation... and Veronica had the sudden fear that she wouldn’t live up to it. She cleared her throat, deliberately hesitating. The other girl merely watched her patiently. Veronica licked her lips, still stalling. Meg pushed forward, closing the gap between their bodies and kissed her hard and demanding. It sent shocks down her limbs and the buzz of anticipation was once again re-ignited. There was no doubt about where Meg’s desires lay. She determinedly pushed the waistband of her friend’s pants down and without thinking, Veronica copied the action and Meg kicked them off. It took only a moment for their mutual nakedness to sink into their respective awareness. There was a lingering instant where the girls simply stared at each other. Veronica pushed a lock of hair from Meg’s face, trailing her fingertips down her arm and over her hip. The consequent rise of goosebumps only assured her that what she planned was exactly what Meg wanted.

Meg pushed back her head, exposing her neck more fully. She let out a groan. “Jesus Veronica,” she said through clenched teeth. “Would you please stop the teasing?”

The comment elicited a small giggle from the other girl. “Getting impatient, Manning?”

Meg glared at her, trying her best to look serious and not as completely aroused as she felt. “Yeah. You say you’ve gotta do something then we get stuck in PG territory.” It was a frustrated sentence. Veronica cocked an eyebrow.

“PG?” She asked in disbelief, looking over their bodies and the flush of skin in front of her. Impulsively, she slid her fingers between Meg’s legs, pleasantly surprised at how excited Meg really was. It incited a gasp from the older girl and she glared at Veronica with dark eyes. “I think we’re past that, Meg.”

Meg could do nothing but nod weakly in agreement as Veronica found the sensitive bundle of nerves and moved her fingers against it. There was a buck in her hips as she tried to make more contact with the teasing fingers. Gently, Veronica nudged Meg onto her back as her other hand slid down to rest against the excited girl’s thigh. She moved slowly, purposefully until the trail of kisses ended just below Meg’s navel. There was a brief tension in her body as if she just realized what Veronica had been planning. But after a moment, she let out a breath crossed between a sigh and a moan and relaxed again.

Veronica was pleased at how easy it was to satisfy the girl beneath her. Moving past the soft curls, she tested the reaction that her tongue had as it replaced her fingers. Yep, there was the sharp intake of breath. And there was the consequent slight splay of her legs. It didn’t take very long for Veronica to find a good rhythm and pressure that had Meg squirming half-impatiently. She vaguely felt long fingers sweeping through her hair in encouragement, accompanied by an ever-increasing series of moans and hums. It was a very good thing that her father’s room was a few doors down. Glancing up briefly, Veronica was a first-hand witness to the fact that the whole ‘pent-up sweet Catholic school-girl turned sex kitten’ thing was true. A couple more strokes and Veronica was fairly certain she could make the good girl writhe. Her chest heaved and Veronica renewed her gentle assault on her most sensitive parts.

“Oh God.” Had Veronica not been listening so closely so probably would have missed the two words that slipped softly from Meg’s lips. There was an involuntary arch again, and Meg tried valiantly to restrain the moan in the back of her throat as Veronica circled that nub with her tongue. Two fingers stroking from the inside completed the task.

Meg came quickly, a strangled yelp and gasping for breath as her limbs shuddered slightly. Veronica wasn’t sure if she had ever seen such a response. Her hands immediately went up to cover her face from Veronica’s sight. The smaller girl chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully and waited for the inevitable.

Finally, a flushed Meg peeked out from between her fingers, snapping her legs together quickly. Then, much to Veronica’s surprise, began to giggle. Confused by the reaction, she did nothing and resisted the urge to run and check herself in the mirror. Without warning, Meg launched herself at the bewildered girl, shoving her down against the mattress and laying a solid kiss against her lips. And then she giggled again.

Her skin was still glowing as she stared down into the eyes of her friend. “I can taste myself on you.” Meg said it in such a way that it sounded like it was a mix of confusion, delight, and distaste. “You know,” she continued, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Veronica Mars, you’ve had some experience.”

“It helps to have a boyfriend who isn’t the typical icked-out, fumbling teen boy.” She meant Logan, obviously. Duncan had been no help on that front. She guessed he never went there with Meg either by her almost jubilant response tonight. It had merely been a matter of knowing enough and then applying it. She always was a good problem-solver. “And, well, you’re just easy, Meg.” She knew that comment would get her a whack with the closest pillow and Meg didn’t disappoint as she laughed off the joke. But her laughter suddenly died and she moved away slightly. She merely stared at Veronica.

“I...,” she started but lost the words. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was trying to say. Quickly, Veronica shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it. You don’t owe me anything.”

Meg smiled. “Actually, I owe you so much by now I don’t that would even come close to starting to make it up. But, I do want to give that mouth of yours a rest.” There was that smirk again. As much as she could tell Meg would be just as happy passing out in the post-orgasmic bliss, she wasn’t going to stop her if she was up for it. Slowly Meg worked her lips down along the collarbone of her girlfriend as her index finger found her eagerly anticipating the attention. She rubbed around her clit slowly at first until building the pressure slightly. Veronica, lost in her own world now, let a raspy groan seep out as Meg’s ministrations brought her closer. She’d been waiting for this all day. It took little more than five minutes and some carefully placed licks on her breasts to send Veronica over. She felt the blood rush from her hands as her body focused completely on the sensations overwhelming her. She panted out something that was probably along the lines of Meg’s previous sentiments but it was hard to tell. As the convulsions slowed, Meg pulled her hands away. She pulled down the hotel bed sheets further and crawled underneath, beckoning Veronica to follow. It didn’t take any coaxing at all.

 

▪▫▪

 

There was a horrible buzzing sound as the old alarm clock went off. It was 7 AM and time to get moving. Veronica groaned and reached over, quickly pounding on the sleep button. She closed her eyes, trying to ease back into sleep. She felt a warm arm securely wrapped around her waist, light puffs of breath sliding over her neck. She had been here before, in a hotel room with someone spooning up behind her. She enjoyed the warmth and the feeling of well-being it inspired, and she found herself glad it was Meg. The older girl mumbled something softly and burrowed her face into the mop of hair in front of her, unwilling to greet the new day just yet. It was an odd sensation to feel Meg’s naked body pressed so tightly against her back.

The alarm rang again. Loudly. Meg and Veronica groaned in unison this time and Meg slowly rolled onto her back as Veronica stretched out to shut off the alarm for good. There was a loud yawn from Meg’s side of the bed and the smaller girl turned over to face her.

“Good morning, reluctant sleepyhead,” Veronica murmured. Meg immediately turned onto her side and scooted closer to her companion. She pushed strands of thin blonde hair from Veronica’s face before pulling her hand back, almost as if she thought she shouldn’t have been doing that. She pressed her lips together and smiled shyly.

“Morning.” Her voice was hoarse with sleep. “How’d you sleep?”

Veronica paused and tried to suppress a grin. “Really well. You?”

Meg made an embarrassed kind of groan and attempted to nestle into the pillow halfheartedly. Her eyes shone brightly though as if she had a wonderful secret. “Same,” she finally hummed. Veronica was surprised at how shy she was acting.

“So, it was okay?”

That provoked a loud laugh as Meg rolled onto her back again, staring happily at the ceiling. “Um, yeah. Definitely okay. Definitely.”

“Def-nitely, Rita, def-nitely,” Veronica mocked in a deep growl, moving closer to Meg as she channeled childhood cartoons. Meg giggled in response and squirmed away from the fingers trailing ticklishly over her skin. With a quick burst, Meg had reversed the tables and was mercilessly trying to find a ticklish area on Veronica, who happened to be very adept at avoiding the onslaught. Veronica pulled all the blankets tightly around herself, forming a protective cocoon and sticking her tongue out at Meg. But the blonde wasn’t taking any sass from her partner. The playful face poking out of the blanket wrap was enough to work with. She lurched over her companion, covering the mass of blankets with her body and nuzzled her face as best she could into the crook of Veronica’s neck. It prompted a very un-Veronica-like series of squeals and giggles. As Meg took one earlobe between her teeth, the other girl admitted defeat and began to push both Meg and the duvet away from her body.

Just as she had managed to pin Meg below her, offering a full assault on her mouth, there was a knock at the door. Meg, who had been insistently pulling Veronica closer, let out a frustrated groan. Veronica echoed the sentiment with a long sigh. She quickly pulled on her pjs as Meg scrambled for her own.

Peeking out, she saw her father, and a nervous looking Wallace. She inched the door open.

“Time to get on the road, honey,” her dad said, a little too cheerily for this time of the morning. “You’ve got about half an hour to get ready and shower. Meg,” he called into the room with what could be construed as a knowing smirk, “Hurry up, it’s makeover time.”


	7. Seven

Makeovers had never been a highlight for Meg Manning. She had merely participated in them to shut Madison Sinclair up. She didn’t like people fussing over her looks that much and this time was no different. She was thankful however that Keith Mars’ idea of a makeover was just a simple haircut and not the hair, makeup, manicure and extensive shopping trip that was traditional in 09er girl land. She stared uncertainly at the person that looked back at her in the mirror. She brushed her fingers through the short strands, as if by pure imagination alone her long blonde hair would reappear.

She couldn’t deny how much lighter it made her feel. But she didn’t see Neptune’s Meg Manning any more. She saw this New Meg; Meg whose last name would most likely be something far-removed from her current one. She supposed it was rather fitting to receive the makeover since her life was starting over. However, she felt suddenly incredibly uncomfortable with the knowledge that she would not even recognize herself in the mirror any longer. She had been holding onto the perhaps naïve idea that, even if everything else was changing, she’d still be able to touch base with her memories through appearance alone. Now that had changed as well. When she was finished staring in moderate disbelief at her hair, Keith Mars slapped some cash down on the counter and quickly ushered Meg from the salon.

 

Back at the motel, Veronica sat, her hair dripping wet, on the bed beside Wallace. She watched the small beads of water fall from her hair and onto her jeans. She knew she should probably run the dryer through her hair but there was something pleasantly distracting about watching the droplets splash onto her lap. Although Wallace could possibly understand her desire to escape her own thoughts for a while, he was bored, and confused. Shifting his weight slightly, he nudged her.

“You okay, Veronica?”

She nodded, glancing up at him in curiosity, as if the question was ridiculous. Reaching over he grabbed one of her towels off the bed and tossed it over her head. There was a muffled sound of protest for a moment before she pulled it off and glared at him. Regardless, she understood the point and began toweling her hair off more effectively.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure? ‘Cause you don’t really seem okay.”

“I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“About?”

There was that piercing stare. She often shot him that look when she resented his asking. But like every other time, she relented with a sigh. “Duncan. I’m not sure what it’s going to be like seeing him again after all of this, knowing I have to pretty much turn him in.”

Even though she and Duncan had broken up prior to his running away, she still felt that twang of guilt. After all, it wasn’t like he really did anything _that_ wrong. He just screwed up her own plans to get the baby back to Meg. She did believe that Duncan was looking out for what was best for Lilly, and how could she blame him? She didn’t want to turn him in, but she didn’t want to risk him blowing Meg’s cover. Sure, they could both go to Canada and maybe that’s what Duncan was planning all along. However, she had no way of knowing since he never shared anything with her about his wild plans. He liked running away. She somehow suspected that he enjoyed when people came after him. His cat and mouse games wore thin quickly when both Lilly and Meg’s lives were at risk.

Wallace took a deep breath and slowly looked around the room before focusing back on his best friend. “Are you sure it’s not about Meg?”

“What about Meg?”

“She’s leaving. Forever.”

“I know.”

Wallace attempted to let his insinuation sink in further. When a minute passed without her saying anything more, he doubted that his meaning had really gotten across to her. “I mean—”

“I know what you mean and obviously that fact I didn’t say anything more means I don’t want to talk about it.” She was being incredibly snippy suddenly and the boy didn’t like the change in attitude. He grumbled to himself briefly before looking over at her.

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t,” she enunciated emphatically. “I’m worried about Duncan. Nervous about Duncan, more than anything else.”

There was a chuckle from her friend. “You are such a bad liar sometimes.”

“You are such a bad friend sometimes,” she shot back, but there was the telltale smile on her face as she tried not to laugh at her ridiculous lie. The smile faded quickly however and was replaced with a troubled expression. Wallace witnessed the sudden change and understood immediately. Looking away quickly, she tried to force a tight-lipped smile. It came out more like a grimace. Just as the boy was about to say something to fill in the tense silence, there was the slick sound of a key card being swiped. The door opened quickly and Meg appeared, not completely unrecognizable but still able to surprise the two teenagers who sat stiffly on the bed.

Then a more relaxed smile fluttered across Veronica’s face and Wallace watched the silent exchange, noting especially the flicker in his friend’s eyes when she looked at the other girl. He had no other option. Excusing himself quickly and pulling the door closed, he made some excuse about getting the luggage in the car.

Veronica was on her feet almost the second the door closed, hands pushing through the short hair.

“It’s different,” she mused, still enjoying the new length. Meg tilted her head.

“Like, different bad? Or different good?” With Veronica just inches away, the last thing she really wanted to do was discuss her new haircut, but the other girl just seemed completely preoccupied with it, and Meg couldn’t deny the feeling was pleasant just on its own. Still, she moved closer, taking Veronica’s shirt lightly in her hands.

“Different good.” Her hands slowed perceptibly, as she looked Meg in the eye, finally realizing how close they were. Knowing that at any moment, there would be an impatient knock on the door, Meg pressed her lips quick and hard against Veronica’s, who responded in kind immediately. A few steps back and Meg was against the wall, trying incredibly hard to keep her knees from giving out. She wished again that for a moment, that she was still pregnant. At least then she could blame the sudden urges on hormone rushes. At this time however, she had no such excuse. And she still just wanted to pull off every inch of Veronica’s clothing and spend the rest of day locked in the same grungy motel room, not chasing down her ex-boyfriend instead.

_Screw Duncan_. After everything else he’d ruined, he would be ruining this moment too.

“What?” Veronica’s voice was curious and Meg immediately realized she had just said something out loud. The other girl pulled back slightly to study Meg’s expression. For her part, Meg let out a nervous laugh, and brushed some hair back from her face, distracting herself momentarily. Veronica’s gaze did not waver at all as she still awaited an answer.

“Nothing.”

“Screw Duncan? I’m pretty sure that was a command for me but I’m not sure what meaning of ‘screw’ you’re implying.” She tried smiling, but faltered. The mention of Duncan’s name has just completely shifted the atmosphere in the motel room. Shaking her head, Meg looked down.

“I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“About Duncan. When _I’m_ kissing you.” Veronica’s voice was even and matter-of-fact, but there was a slightly hiccup in the second statement. The hurt was obvious enough to Meg.

“Not like you think,” Meg said, trying to rectify the situation and noticing her words had no effect on the girl in front of her. “It’s kinda funny actually. I was thinking about how much I just wanted to stay here – with you – and how just the fact we have to go find Duncan because he ran away would ruin it. And then, I ruin it instead by mentioning his name.”

Veronica merely stared at her, silently. There was no hint of understanding on her face and the look in her eyes succeeded in doing nothing more than making the awkward situation even more uncomfortable. Meg’s smile faded slowly as she tilted her head, trying to gauge some sort of response from her girlfriend.

“That’s not very funny at all,” she said solemnly, never breaking the intent stare. Meg winced, a finger moving quickly to her mouth. Chewing on her nail, she looked meekly at Veronica. It was bizarre. Finally, after watching Meg squirm uneasily under her scrutiny, she smirked. There was an instant that confusion flashed across the older girl’s face, but it was quickly replaced with mock-anger.

“You suck, Veronica!” she declared, trying to hold back her own laugh. “You had me worried!”

Veronica’s chuckle fluttered through the air as she hopped back from Meg, fully expecting some sort of physical retribution. Meg never got the chance however. As expected, there was a pounding at the door and a muted sound of a man reminding them to hurry up. Veronica rolled her eyes and grabbed her duffel bag, throwing one last impish smile in Meg’s direction before strolling out of the room.

 

▪▫▪

 

With every passing mile, the tension grew thicker and thicker around the girls in the backseat. Veronica, for her part, was fidgety and anxious. Meg was both dreading and terribly excited about the situation. She had the added bonus of not having to spend the next few years in a town where Duncan Kane was locked away, unlike Veronica who would have to live with the knowledge he was close by. There were still parts of Meg’s psyche that remained miraculously untainted by the trials of the last few years. The dread came partially from the fact she didn’t want to ruin Duncan’s life. Sure, he had completely screwed up her plans and could possibly be endangering her daughter’s life. But there was that nagging voice that reminded her that if it hadn’t been for his carelessness and impulsiveness, she would never have returned to Neptune and had the chance to fully repair one of the most surprisingly important friendships of her life. She wouldn’t be sitting in Keith Mars’ car speeding down the highways of the Pacific Northwest, her hand comfortably entwined with the girl beside her.

Of course the other half of the dread came from the uncertainty of what Duncan really was planning, whether or not she would –after all this-- really be able to get to Canada, and how all of it would effect Veronica. Feeling empathy was nothing new to Meg. Feeling it for Veronica also was not unknown. It was the depth of that empathy that made her worry, hopefully unnecessarily, about the future well-being of her sort-of girlfriend. There was also the portion of her mind that worried that she wouldn’t be able to give her a proper farewell.

A soft thumb slowly stroked over the back of Veronica’s hand, reassuring and gentle. Veronica knew that Meg’s exterior calm was a façade and that she was boiling with anticipation just as much on the inside. She believed she was doing a fairly good job of hiding her own nervousness with the whole situation. Meg sat silently staring out the window, oozing tranquility and Veronica wished she could keep her composure the same way. A brief moment of awareness would pass every so often when Meg would turn to her, offer a small smile, and then turn away. But she would never turn away in time. Veronica caught the uncertainty in her eyes. It was enough to remind herself she wasn’t alone in the feeling.

Breaking the rhythmic sound of tires drifting down the asphalt, Keith’s cell phone rang loudly. His daughter jumped up to reach across and snatch it from the cup-holder between the elder Mars and Wallace.

“Answer it, honey,” Keith suggested, knowing without looking who was on the other end.

“Hello Rod.”

Meg peered at her curiously, as did Wallace from his position in the passenger seat. Keith attempted to keep his focus on the road even as his curiosity was getting the better of him. Veronica merely offered a few hesitant “Yeah”s before hanging up.

“Duncan’s in Portland. At the blue motel on North Whitaker.” Meg’s hand no longer softly held hers. She gripped harder. Veronica let out a deep breath, watching as the speedometer rose on the dashboard, mirroring the increase in her heartbeat.

 

▪▫▪

 

The tires screeched to a halt outside the dumpy looking motel that was somewhat inappropriately named the “Princess Inn”. It looked more like the stables of a castle than the royalty’s quarters. Paint was peeling off the blue doors and matching window frames. An unusual rusty yellow goo seemed to drip out of the cracked eaves-trough above room 7. Further down the lot, a guest clad only in his underwear sat in a tarnished lawn chair that was about to buckle under his weight. The occupants of the car, looked around curiously until Meg cleared her throat softly.

“My baby is living here?” Her voice wavered, obviously upset at the thought of her daughter staying in such a hole.

“Maybe appearances are deceiving,” Wallace offered optimistically. Keith chuckled at the brightness of his statement as a guest opened the door in front of their parking space, giving all four Neptunians a glimpse of the interior.

“I guess so,” Veronica deadpanned. “The inside looks even worse.”

The was a brief moment where no one said anything until Meg threw herself against the door and jumped out, making her way quickly to the front desk. Keith leapt out of the car in response, followed quickly by Veronica. Keith caught up to Meg, just outside the doors to the lobby (if you could call it that) and grabbed her arm, hard to enough to stall her in her tracks. She turned on Keith with fear in her eyes. She tried to wring her arm free from his grasp but Veronica held on to her other with both arms wrapped securely around her. Keith released his grip, allowing Veronica to hold her in place as he attempted to explain that she couldn’t just barge in and expect success. Even the seediest of motels required a certain touch. Meg cringed at the truthfulness of Keith’s statement, trying to keep the tears from spilling out and down her cheeks.

“My _daughter_ is in there. In _that_ place,” she begged futilely. “I’ve never even _seen_ her and now I’m supposed to sit idly by and _WAIT_ some more? I’m tired of waiting.” Her voice grew smaller, lacking the nerve of the previous moments. “I can’t wait anymore.”

There was nothing Veronica could think of to say and looked pleadingly to her father and hoped he had something better to say. Keith shuffled slightly closer to the distraught girl.

“Meg, honey,” he said softly, trying to get her to look him in the eye. “Trust me. I know exactly how you are feeling but people only get hurt when you rush into things. As far as we know, Lilly’s not in any trouble--.”

“As far as we know!” Meg said in disbelief.

“Meg.” His voice was slightly harder. The only thing harder than dealing with a distraught parent was dealing with a distraught teenage parent. “Veronica and I have a wealth of experience in this kind of situation and we promise nothing will happen to Lilly.” He beckoned Wallace out of the car. “I want you and Wallace to wait in the car while we find out which room Duncan’s in.”

Wallace nodded, understanding his position.

“But--,” Meg started again.

“You have to trust me,” Keith implored. He looked to Veronica. “You have to trust Veronica. You do trust her, right?” Meg bit down on her lip and gazed at the other girl who still stood with her arms securely wrapped around her. Veronica offered a small reassuring smile. Meg nodded slowly. Veronica slowly let go and Wallace led Meg back to the car where she took a seat, nervously fiddling with her fingers in the passenger seat. Wallace waited in the driver’s seat as Veronica and Keith made their way to the front desk and out of sight.

 

After what seemed to Meg like an eternity, Keith and Veronica emerged from the lobby both with equal looks of displeasure clearly sketched on their faces. Rolling down the car window, Meg waited for an explanation. Keith leaned on the car, unsure how exactly Meg would take the news. Behind him, Veronica was chewing on her bottom lip and obviously scouting the area for anything familiar.

“Well, there’s bad news and good news,” Keith began and when Meg barely reacted, he continued, “Good news, Duncan is here. Bad news, they won’t tell us which room.”

There was no reaction from the blonde in the car for quite a while. She was mulling the news around in her mind until she finally glared at Keith straight on. “So?” Her voice was laced with scorn. She saw no reason why that would even be an issue.

“So, Miss Manning, there are 58 rooms at this motel. It continues around the entire lot. We start knocking on every door, and we’ll have the cops here for causing a disturbance in no time. And Duncan will definitely have caught wind of the situation and bolted.”

“Um, don’t you want the cops to come?” she asked as if what he had suggested was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard. “And you know, it’s not like Duncan can run outta here without at least _one_ of us seeing him.”

Keith said nothing in response. There was very little point in arguing further with her. She wasn’t going to listen to anything he said, no matter how good the excuse. He knew this from personal experience. She wanted her baby and nothing was really going to stand in her way. It was just a matter of keeping her in control. Relenting finally to her stare, he shrugged.

“Fine. We’ll do it your way, except only Veronica can go. If Duncan sees anyone else, I’m sure he’ll get spooked.”

“It’s _my_ baby,” Meg said in a low voice, somewhat threateningly. Well, as threateningly as Meg could get without sounding like she was going to cry. “I need to see him, and her.”

“But _he_ can’t see _you_ ,” Keith reminded her. If Duncan were to see Meg, her cover, along with everyone who was helping her, would be blown. He’d know she wasn’t dead, and most likely he’d want them to escape together. However, the last thing Meg wanted was to be stuck spending the rest of her life with the boy who dumped her as soon as he found out she was pregnant. Veronica, who had been vaguely paying attention to the argument, took her cue and began walking towards what she guessed, would be a good choice. The action made Meg stay quiet as she watched. Keith climbed into the backseat to watch from a less noticeable position.

They could see her, standing at the door, apologizing and then she moved on to the next room. The pace at which she was going through the rooms was slow to Wallace and Keith, but excruciating to Meg. The faster they found Duncan, the faster this whole ordeal would be over. At the 11th attempt, Veronica stood a little longer at the door. Then she walked inside. She subtly gave the thumbs up sign as she went in. Meg leant forward, trying to make out more detail in the dying light of the evening. Reaching forward, Keith placed a hand on her shoulder, partly for support, and partly to stop her from running. After a minute, he nodded to Wallace to hit the electric locks on the car doors. There was a clunk as they fell into place and it immediately caused Meg to glare momentarily at Keith. She knew what that meant. The sound had jolted her thoughts.

Before Keith could process what was going on, she had ripped up her lock and bolted from the car, towards room 18. Keith pursed his lips realizing that the passenger side had parental override just as the driver’s seat did. The safety locks only worked on the back doors. By the time Wallace had lifted the locks, Keith saw Meg was almost at Duncan’s door. He sat back in the seat with a large huff. Wallace wanted to chuckle at the situation but kept it to himself.

 

 

When there was a loud thumping on the motel door, Veronica and Duncan both jumped. Duncan’s eyes suddenly went wild as he looked back and forth between Veronica and the door. Thinking quickly, Veronica motioned for him to say nothing. She had to keep him believing that she was alone and thus, the person may only be a stranger. Slowly she backed towards the only exit to the room. Peering through the peephole, she saw Meg and she was seething.

Answering the door would definitely cause problems. Not answering the door would also cause problems. After all, who would pound on a door like that unless they knew exactly what they had come for? Taking in the state of the room, and the little she had put together about Duncan’s state of mind, she decided that opening the door to Meg would probably be the better choice. She certainly didn’t need the neighbours calling the desk or even the cops about a crazy girl trying to bang down a door. With a wince at the maelstrom that would ensue in about 30 seconds, she began to pull open the door.

Meg burst into the room, skidding to a halt when she saw Duncan sitting on the ratty motel bed. Veronica closed the door and waited for the yelling to begin. For the moment, the three teenagers just stared at each other. Duncan’s eyes were wide, trying to process what was happening. First Veronica showed up out of the blue, and now Meg was alive, in his room as well. And she looked like she wanted to strangle him. Her gaze never wavered.

Finally, Duncan laughed. It wasn’t a soft or hesitant chuckle. It was a full-throated guffaw. Both Meg and Veronica looked confused. He continued to laugh, almost falling sideways with the intensity. Eventually he caught his breath long enough to glance at Veronica and then back at Meg.

“Am I dead?”

Then he laughed again.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Meg asked, her voice laced with malice as she took in his ridiculous condition. He clapped his hands and hooted.

“Welcome to heaven, Duncan Kane!” he exclaimed loudly. Meg glimpsed at Veronica who could only shrug at the actions of her ex-boyfriend. Duncan, still laughing, continued, “Meg’s dead! Meg, you’re dead!” His voice grew louder, and, if possible, he sounded positively enthralled and amused by the idea. Before Meg had the chance to explain, he was at it again.

“Meg’s dead! That means you’re dead, Veronica, and I am too!” He let out one last hoot of laughter before becoming eerily quiet and serious. “Are we ghosts?”

Veronica tilted her head forward, wondering if she had actually heard him correctly. “Ghosts?” Suddenly it hit her. The pure chaos of the motel room, Duncan’s disheveled appearance, the crazy laughter and absurd questions. She marched into the cramped bathroom and tossed aside towels and empty juice boxes. Finally she shook her head and walked up to Meg, leaning in close to whisper.

“He’s off his meds.” After the information sunk in, Meg narrowed her eyes at him. He still smiled dopily at her and Veronica.

“What happens now?” he asked. “Do we get to haunt people?”

There was a dangerous flash of anger sweep across Meg’s face. Duncan, in his state, didn’t see it but Veronica was all too aware of the fury boiling within Meg. The taller blonde marched up to Duncan’s prone form and towered above him. “Where’s Lilly, Duncan?” she asked with surprising restraint. He giggled. She tried again. “Where is Lilly, Duncan?”

“She’s dead!” he yelled, almost joyfully. The problem with his statement was threefold. He actually had a sister who was named Lilly and she was actually dead. But he also had a daughter named Lilly. And neither Meg nor Veronica had seen her since entering the apartment. Even though Duncan could just be saying that because to him, right now everyone was dead, the frightening truth was that baby Lilly could actually be dead. “She’s dead,” he said slower and like it was a special secret. Meg scrunched her lips together, desperately trying to hold back tears. Veronica could do nothing but watch the train wreck. The fact that a baby could be dead, that all of this could have been for naught made her stomach churn and her feet freeze in place.

“Duncan!” Meg finally screamed. “I’m not dead! You’re not dead! Is your baby dead?”

Obviously confused by the ghost saying it wasn’t dead, he did nothing but stare at her in bewilderment for a minute. “You’re dead, Meg. Lilly’s dead too.”

“Which Lilly?” she asked sharply, her voice breaking again as she tried to hold back tears.

He started laughing again. At first it was slow, soft and controlled. Meg only could stare at him with disgust. Soon that chuckling turned again into full-fledged laughter.

Veronica had seen people at their breaking point before. She had seen people snap. She thought she had seen Meg at that point before, long ago, when she broke down crying on stage in front of the sneers, whispers and taunts. She had thought that was what Meg Manning was like when she snapped. Shy. Weak. Pathetic. She would never have expected what happened in the next few seconds.

In a flurry of movement, Meg was upon him. She was screaming. Most of it was unrecognizable as words. Just screams. Just noise. It was complimented only by the sound of fists hitting flesh, as hard as possible. She saw the tears streaming down Meg’s face as she struck Duncan in the head and chest, pummeling him into submission. He weakly defended himself for a while, allowing her to cause lumps and bruises to immediately begin forming on his face.

“She was my baby!” Meg wailed, finally intelligibly. There was the painful sound of a bone cracking as Meg laid a lucky, well-placed fist into his jaw.

For the first time in her life, Veronica was able to see a transformation of one person into another. It wasn’t Meg. Although she wouldn’t have expected Meg to have such a violent reaction to the situation, she couldn’t discount it as something she herself wouldn’t do. The response was not that alien to her. However, the look in Duncan’s eyes in the seconds following the blow to his jaw scared her. Suddenly he had morphed from a confused and unconcerned victim into something else entirely. His eyes grew cold and hard as he glared at the girl above him. The look sent chills down Veronica’s spine and she shuddered involuntarily. Meg was too blinded by tears and rage to even notice, adrenaline pumping furiously through her veins.

There was something to be said about intuition. As she finally seemed to regain the use of her legs, she burst forward and grappled Meg away from Duncan. She protested weakly but was too exhausted to fight much against her girlfriend. Instead, she turned in Veronica’s arms, grasping onto her tightly and burying her face in the crook of the other girl’s neck. Veronica did her best to hug her back as tightly as she could but she never took her eyes off of Duncan.

He sat up slowly, his head tilted low and his eyes dark and hooded. There was no more laughter on his face. His face was set like stone and he glared at Meg with such intense hatred that Veronica finally realized that he was actually capable of harming another human being. He stood up, tall and stiff. Quickly fumbling around in her purse with her free hand, Veronica pulled out her TASER, holding it out in front of her and Meg.

“Duncan, don’t,” she warned. He glanced at the weapon and then back at his ex-girlfriends. There was a smirk on his face. He wasn’t afraid anymore. Lacking the mental capacity to process consequences, he was a dangerous man. On the other hand, she had Meg who also was completely oblivious to his threatening stance. She looped her arm around Veronica’s neck securely. It caught Veronica slightly off-guard when Meg laid a series of kisses along her neck. Duncan too observed the action. For a moment, it seemed like he may have been distracted enough to lose interest in whatever else he was planning. But that moment didn’t last as long as Veronica would have liked. She understood that Meg was an emotional wreck at the moment and really was just going through a flood of feelings, most of which weren’t being properly manifested. But Duncan was only feeling one thing, and that scared Veronica to the core.

Meg pulled back slightly and glanced a look at her ex-boyfriend. By the gasp that occurred, Veronica knew she wasn’t alone in seeing the danger in the present situation.

Duncan’s jaw had begun to swell on one side, colouring a dark red and purple. He was definitely in pain, but if he was, he certainly wasn’t showing it. He took a deliberate step towards the girls. They both backed up in response. He took another step forward. As expected they stepped backwards. He did it again. They did too. Veronica glanced at the door, trying to gauge the escape time.

This time when Duncan laughed, it wasn’t even close to being funny. He sneered while he did it and side-stepped, intersecting their path to the door. The last thing Veronica wanted to do was show her fear. Unfortunately Meg was doing that enough for the both of them. She was trembling, probably also a response to the sudden drop in adrenaline.

“Duncan,” Veronica said evenly and calmly.

“Veronica.” There was that sneer again. He cocked his head to the side, studying the girls who stood side by side in his motel room. “Meg.” He laughed again. “Well, you two really had me totally fooled! So tell me, was this whole thing a game from the beginning?”

“What?” Veronica asked, honestly confused.

“You know,” he said and gestured to the two of them. “This whole thing. To get me.”

“Huh?” Meg was still confused. Veronica saw what he was getting at.

“You think that everything that has happened between us over the course of, I don’t know, 4 years was all some sort of elaborate plan to screw with you? I went out with you years ago, became best friends with your sister, built my life around you because I was secretly in love with Meg, who I didn’t meet until _after_ I met you, and we were plotting the best way to bring you down?” She tried to restrain the incredulity in her voice.

“It makes sense,” he said simply.

“Actually, that makes no sense at all,” Meg scoffed.

“It makes sense!” he yelled, causing a slight flinch in the older girl. To his paranoid brain, of course it made sense. Linear and logical thought was useless to convince him otherwise. The fact that neither girl was taking him seriously only furthered his anger.

“Now you’re back to haunt me and make my life Hell!”

Veronica paused before responding. “But if we’re ghosts, why do you think you can hurt us?”

The question stumped the boy for a minute. He seemed to be scrolling through an endless list of possible answers to the question and Veronica really wasn’t really curious about his solution. She just needed to get close enough to him, and have him distracted enough to put the TASER to him. Otherwise, he’d notice and most likely break her wrist if she attempted it.

“You can hurt a ghost.” His reasoning still made no sense. It was irrational and infantile. There was almost the hint of a pout on his face. She knew somewhere within his brain, he knew they weren’t really ghosts. Otherwise he would have merely ignored the intrusions.

“I see Lilly too,” he said, his voice irate as if it was something he resented. “She’s always around. Nagging. Ridiculing me.”

“Lilly, your sister?” Veronica asked, taking a minute step closer to him as he spoke. She tried her damnedest to keep her voice soft and calm.

“Yeah, my fucking sister, Veronica. Who the hell else?” he suddenly snapped. The outburst triggered a similar reaction in Meg and if the situation hadn’t been so precarious, Veronica would have rolled her eyes. Meg surged forward towards him, intent on hurting him again.

“Your _baby_ , Duncan!” she yelled, her voice cracking. “Your daughter! My baby!” She was only able to throw one weak blow before Duncan caught her wrist and yanked her sideways and away from him. She yelped in pain as her arm twisted unnaturally. Duncan wrenched it further, intent on shutting this hysterical girl up. He raised his free hand, pulling it back for what was going to be a very heavy backhanded slap. There was only a split-second of thought before Veronica leapt in to intercept the swipe of his hand. It connected with a sickening sound with the back of Veronica’s skull. Momentarily stunned by the hit, she lay on the ground catching her breath. She had known there was no way in hell Meg would have been able to take that blow on her face without serious damage. Duncan didn’t feel the pain in his hand from such an action.

There was a painful cry from Meg as Veronica hit the floor with a thud. Duncan too was briefly confused by the situation. It only took a few seconds for Veronica to process her position and her TASER-holding hand swept out to make contact with Duncan’s leg. The shock coursed through him and now he felt pain. He quickly dropped his grasp of Meg’s arm and fell to his knees, stretching to grab Veronica who had already scrambled out of his reach. Meg quickly pulled Veronica further away from him as he began curling up to block out the pain that was finally all beginning to register.

Pulling herself into a sitting position, Veronica winced as she rubbed the back of her head. She felt hands all over her, touching softly and trying to assess any other injury. It was Meg, stroking her hair softly. She sat with a dull thump down beside her friend, her arms sliding around her. She vaguely could hear sniffles from across the room. Duncan was crying and whispering to himself, almost a chant. Veronica and Meg strained to make out the words.

“Lilly’s dead. Lilly’s dead.”

Meg bit down hard on her lip as she watched him, lost in the words and her own terrible thoughts. The taste of iron on her tongue brought her back to reality. She turned to Veronica.

“You didn’t have to,” she said softly, running her fingers gently over the bump forming on Veronica’s head. The other girl flinched at the contact and Meg dropped her hand.

“Yeah, I kinda did,” she smirked, cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders to ward off the coming stiffness. “I’m pretty used to getting the shit kicked out of me.”

Meg smiled, thumbing away a droplet of blood from where Veronica’s forehead had made contact with the rough carpet. “Well, then, you _shouldn’t_ have.”

Telling Veronica Mars that she “shouldn’t have” was about as futile as trying to staple Jell-O to the ceiling. The older girl knew this as well, but felt it necessary to try and make clear how grateful she was and a simple “thank you” seemed too easy and too flimsy. The moment passed quickly however as reality sunk in completely. Lilly was still missing, either dead and buried somewhere along Duncan’s trail, or lost somewhere else. Meg let out a deep sigh, leaning against Veronica as they sat in silence, watching Duncan writhe on the floor, whispering and moaning to himself.

Veronica’s ears perked at another sound in the small motel room. It was a cry, separate from Duncan’s. Meek and muffled. She nudged Meg urgently.

“Can you hear that?”

Meg nodded, her eyes growing wide and curious. They both stood quickly and began looking around for the origin of the sound. Duncan was still sitting in a pathetic lump on the floor. The sudden knock at the door made Meg jump and Veronica jogged quickly to check the peephole. She pulled the door open and Wallace and Keith entered, taking in the destruction of the room and Duncan’s shivering mess on the floor. Veronica forced out a smile.

“I think I’ll have to recharge my stun gun,” she chirped.

“You’re okay?” It was the only thing Keith was particularly worried about. She nodded and he glanced at Meg who looked like a wreck but was obviously okay as well. She stood solemnly near the door to the bathroom. Walking over to where Duncan was sitting, Keith pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Duncan resisted only weakly at first as the cuffs clicked securely into place. Both Wallace and Keith dragged the insane boy to his feet. He clumsily stumbled with them to the door.

When everyone else was gone, the sound was clearer. Veronica joined Meg at the entrance to the bathroom. She entered first as Meg seemed frozen in place as the cry became louder. She cursed herself for not pulling back the curtain to the bathtub beforehand. As she did, she let out a relieved sigh. Lilly was in the empty bathtub, inside her car seat carrier. Glancing over at Meg, she saw that the other girl was terrified.

She bent down to wipe away some of the baby’s tears. “Meg, come here. It’s Lilly.”

Refusing to budge from her vantage point at the entrance to the bathroom, Meg shook her head adamantly. She was trembling again.

“Meg, come here,” Veronica tried again, a little softer. “She’s okay. What happened to all that bravado back there with Duncan and my dad?” She had wanted it to be a joke to lighten the mood. However, Meg certainly didn’t take it that way. She angrily wiped her own tears away and kept shaking her head.

“I can’t, Veronica. I can’t do it. I can’t do this.”

Veronica stood up, facing Meg directly. “What?”

A sob erupted from Meg’s chest and she tried to catch a breath. “I can’t. I can’t. I can't. I’m not ready.”

“Yeah, you are.”

Reaching out, Veronica grabbed Meg’s hand, pulling her forcefully into the small space and pushed her over to the baby. She hovered above for a moment before another sob wracked her body. She leant slightly closer.

At the last moment, she swung back around to Veronica, eyes wide. “I need you. I—I can't go. I can’t do this by myself.” Her hands were shaking quite visibly, to the point of her whole body trembling.

Veronica wanted to say something reassuring but felt that she was running out of both time and patience. Most likely, the police would be here soon, if they weren’t outside already. She took Meg by the shoulders and forced her to turn around.

“I’ve never even seen her before now,” she murmured, reaching out a shaky finger to touch her daughter’s forehead. “That’s my baby.” Her voice held a distinct tone of awe now as she trailed the same finger through the thin soft hair.

The smaller blonde girl leant forward. “You should hold her,” she whispered, trying not to push Meg to hard but still knowing the time was of the essence. Nodding, Meg hesitantly wriggled her hands underneath the infant, and after assuring herself that it was a strong enough hold, she lifted the baby into her arms.

Then the tears began again, this time out of relief rather than fear.

 

Veronica wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting watching Meg with her new baby, but when the distant sound of sirens finally tunneled into her conscious mind, she looked around quickly, trying to assess how many baby supplies were available. She quickly jumped up and started grabbing whatever she could. A few diapers, a tin of evaporated baby pabulum, and a small bag of clothes was all she could find. The other girl was still sitting on the floor of the bathroom, cradling her daughter and cooing in hushed tones.

“Meg, we have to go,” she said urgently from the other room. There was no response. “Meg! Let’s go!” She tried yelling this time. She heard shuffling in the bathroom and a small mew as Meg was preparing to leave. Rushing out of the bathroom, she nearly ran straight into the blonde sleuth who had been waiting rather impatiently.

“You ready? It’s nearly over,” she said with a grin. Meg nodded earnestly, holding the baby-carrier tightly against her hip. Veronica’s smile grew wider. “Let’s get going then!”

The blue and red flashing lights came rushing towards the motel parking lot as Meg and Veronica scrambled into the backseat of Keith’s car. Quickly and with expertise, Keith snapped the car-seat into place behind the passenger seat. Wallace helped load all the baby’s accessories into the trunk before rushing to hop in the car. Meg and Veronica squished together beside Lilly. Keith stood with Duncan outside the car.

“Dad! Come on!” Veronica yelled out the window. He shook his head, still holding tightly onto the seemingly sluggish and oblivious Kane boy.

“You go, I’ll call you later. Get Meg and Lilly out of here,” he said with such urgency that Veronica immediately sprung from her cramped position and sailed around to the driver’s side, quickly revving the engine. In a few seconds, they were on their way away from the motel as Keith and Duncan stood in the lot, waiting for the swarm of police.


	8. Eight

The streets of Portland in winter were foreign and unwelcoming to a couple of lost Southern Californians. Brown, dead, wet leaves littered the streets as the chilly air penetrated the car. It did nothing to put the occupants at ease with their situation. It just appeared like everything was slowly dying around them. Wallace tried reading the half-crumpled map that he had inadvertently crushed when he sat down. Neither he nor Veronica had any idea where they were or where they were going. All they knew was that they needed to keep the cops away from Meg and the baby.

It would be best if they didn’t go anywhere where they could possibly be recognized. If Duncan said anything, other police officers would most likely be on the lookout for two young blonde girls with a baby. That would be a very unwanted setback. Veronica pulled into another sketchy looking motel just outside the northern outskirts of Portland in Vancouver, Washington and handed Wallace a wad of cash for a room. Although he was young, he was neither blonde nor with a child. She hoped that would be enough.

The day had been exhausting and Veronica suspected her father would want to continue north to Seattle before the day’s end. She didn’t. She knew Meg didn’t. She wasn’t sure about Wallace but she assumed he was probably pretty bored with the whole ordeal. It all hinged on whether Keith would make it out to their current location before it got too late.

Wallace sauntered back to the car, dangling a set of keys in his fingers and grinning. Slipping into the seat, he let out a triumphant laugh.

“It took all of my manly charm to get these. She was about to say no ‘cause I was too young. I told her I was wise beyond my years.”

“You sly fox, you,” Veronica smirked and snatched the keys from his hand.

“What I didn’t mention is that it's going to be like a sequel to _3 Men and a Baby_ , except you know, with less men and more teenage girls.”

All three teenagers emerged from the car and stared at the door to the room. “I guess the rooms probably don’t come with a crib, huh?” Meg mused to herself, taking a glance into the car and shivering with the damp cold air. Wallace shrugged in response before wandering away from the girls. Veronica watched him for a few moments before sliding the key into the lock and opening the door grandly.

It was a typical motel room. Two double beds. Strange brown-orange carpet. Mysterious stains on the ceiling. And terrible paisley bedspreads. It took a moment for Veronica to adjust to the chintziness of the whole thing. She felt Meg walk up beside her and gaze into the tacky orange room, baby Lilly resting on her hip, fast asleep. With a chuckle, Veronica nudged Meg.

“At least she’s not awake to see this.” Meg smiled in response and slowly put the baby-carrier down in a safe place, taking inventory of the amenities. There was an ancient relic of a microwave on the dresser and little else, other than the small television set. With a small squeal of delight, she noticed a playpen in the closet. She pulled it out, checking for bugs and anything else that would be unwanted.

“I guess moms on the run aren’t that rare an occurrence here,” she mused as she folded it open. Veronica said nothing. Instead she watched Meg pull a pillow off her bed as well as some blankets from the top shelf of the closet. She arranged the playpen with surprising speed, knowing that when she grabbed the newborn’s belongings from the trunk, it would be a much more comfortable bed.

The shrill ring of Veronica’s Sidekick startled the two girls. She picked up quickly.

“Hey Dad, what’s up?”

Meg’s ears perked up at the caller and she stared at Veronica intently. The other girl did little but nod and make sounds of understanding. At one point her expression grew terribly serious until she let out a sigh. Then she grinned and laughed.

“Yeah, we’re at the motel that seems to just be called “Motel” in bright pink letters on NE 78th St in Vancouver. It’s neon pink, actually. You can’t miss it... Yeah, Washington.” There was another long pause as she listened.

“Oh. Okay. You sure?… Okay, love you too. Bye.”

As she was putting away her Sidekick, Wallace showed up behind her with a plastic bag in his hand. He walked into the bathroom and emerged with the package wrapped in a towel. He handed it to her.

“For your head,” he suggested as she took it.

“Thanks.” Putting the ice pack against the swelling on the back of her skull, she sat down on the bed. “I knew there was some reason you came with us,” she joked. “You know, besides the fact that you’ll keep me company on the way home.”

Both Meg and Wallace looked at her curiously. “What’s going on?”

With a shrug of her shoulders, Veronica sighed. “My dad’s going to go back to California with Duncan. Well, with Duncan and a police escort. Which leaves Wallace and I to drive you to Seattle and then go on a wild and crazy roadtrip on the way home. Like, Bonnie and Clyde.”

“I hope you’re kidding,” Wallace said with a smirk. “I don’t think I can explain to my mom how my basketball game ended up getting us lost in Missouri with the FBI on our asses.”

“Oh shush you,” she said with a dismissive wave. “If Duncan can elude the FBI, I think I have a pretty good chance of the same.” Wallace nodded in agreement.

The sound of a baby crying jolted the teens out of their banter. With a long sigh, Meg made her way over to the infant as Wallace grabbed Veronica’s keys to take the diaper bag from the trunk. It could be a very long night.

 

▪▫▪

 

_Veronica,_

_Hey honey. Hope you and the gang of ruffians that are tagging along found a nice place to crash for the night. Tell Meg to go through that duffel bag in the trunk. I picked up some supplies while you girls were sleeping a few days ago. When she gets to Chris’ there will be plenty of stuff so don’t go on a shopping spree quite yet. If Lilly is grumpy, I think you guys know what to do. If I remember correctly, you received a nice A on that report card for your health class on parenting._

_Right now I’m in the passenger seat of a cop car heading back south. Duncan’s been quiet for most of the trip, and the good news is that when he does speak, it doesn’t make much sense so no one believes anything he says. Well, except the part about Lilly._

_You girls will be glad to know that the cops aren’t searching for Lilly, at least not alive. Duncan yelled for about 10 minutes about how Lilly was dead and he killed her. No one was able to determine which Lilly he was talking about so they’ve assumed it was his daughter, Lilly. Not his sister. But that’s something we’ll have to discuss when you get home. Some things came out about Lilly Kane but I’ll tell you those in person. The police here didn’t really pay it much mind but I'm not convinced it's all babble. He also talked about how Meg was dead and therefore he was as well. Didn’t I tell you he’s not making sense? Good thing for Meg and the baby. Otherwise I’m sure the police would be still hunting for Lilly._

_Meg’s aunt told me that she’s taking Meg across the border as soon as possible, probably in about a week. Just maybe let Meg know about that._

_Just in case you’ve lost it:_

_Chris Talley  
5344 Fauntleroy Ave_

_Get onto the West Seattle Bridge (off the 5) and then find Admiral Way. It’s just off there. Make sure you’re on Ave not Fauntleroy Way. Good luck and wish Meg well for me._

_See you when you get home. You and Wallace drive carefully._

_Love, Dad_

 

▪▫▪

 

The next morning came a little too quickly for Meg’s liking. She still wasn’t one hundred percent positive that she really wanted to stick with the plan. A large portion of the previous night had been devoted to Veronica reading off the email from her father and discussing it. Only a few minutes before falling asleep did Meg attempt to broach the subject with Veronica. It had taken a lot of smooth-talking on Veronica’s part to convince the terrified older girl that she really was doing it for the best. Meg was still scared that something would go wrong at the border with the ID Keith had picked up from a contact back in Portland. After coming so far, the last thing she wanted was trouble at the border. All the effort would have been in vain. The new Meg “Ellis” had finally been able to fall asleep with Veronica gently stroking her hair, trying to calm Meg’s nerves. In that darkness, Meg had wanted to whisper something she had been holding onto for a few days but even with the knowledge it would be her last chance, she couldn’t quite get the words out.

As she opened her eyes, she immediately wished she could close them and fall back asleep. She tightened her hold on the other girl, snuggling deeper into the warmth. She could acutely hear Veronica’s soft breathing, echoed by the soft snores of Wallace on the other bed and her baby girl in the playpen near the foot of the bed. Everything was right with the world for once and she wanted to just freeze the moment.

Too quickly it slipped away as Veronica began to stir. She groaned very softly and tried to suppress a yawn. But she didn’t attempt to move. After the small stretch, she relaxed back into bed, feeling Meg behind her.

“Meg?”

“Yeah, I’m awake.”

Veronica tried to roll over without breaking contact. She ended up nose to nose with her friend. “How long have you been awake?” she mumbled groggily.

“Not sure. A while.”

“Big day today.”

Meg closed her eyes, not wanting to hear that. “Every day is a big day,” she grumbled, unwilling to open her eyes and face the reality that was the morning. Veronica chuckled quietly, and softly placed a kiss on her lips.

“It’s gotta happen sometime.”

It was Meg’s turn to laugh. “Shut up, Veronica,” she said, her lips curling into a smile. She knew her words were the truth but that didn’t mean she wanted to hear them at that exact moment. She sighed and trailed her index finger over Veronica’s hip and under the cover of blankets. Slowly, and with the smuggest of smirks, she stroked the inside of the other girl’s thigh, purposefully and never tearing her eyes away.

“And I’m the tease?” Veronica whispered as quietly as possible.

“You think I’m a tease?” Meg echoed back, sliding a warm finger under Veronica’s boxer shorts and into the heat she found there. The other girl attempted to restrain a gasp at the contact. She forced her eyes open again to stare hard at Meg.

“No. I take that back. I think you’re a bitch,” she whispered harshly, trying to keep the quirk of a smile off her face and her hips from bucking up, her eyes slipping shut as Meg continued.

Meg’s lips traveled up Veronica’s neck and across her jawline until she captured the other girl’s mouth with her own. She was momentarily surprised at the hard, almost desperate kiss that was returned. Veronica’s hands laced though the blonde hair above her, nearly crushing Meg’s lips against hers. For a moment, both girls had forgotten they were sharing the room with two other occupants.

Until there was a cry. Unaccustomed to hearing a screaming baby, Meg jumped back, confused for an instant about the origin of the sound. Wallace stirred as well at the loud sound. Scrambling quickly to the end of the bed, Meg tried to see what was wrong. Veronica let out a groan and rubbed her eyes slowly, squinting down to where Meg was bustling around the playpen. Suddenly they were all catapulted back to reality. It was time to feed and change the baby. Time to get breakfast. Time to get on the road to Seattle, the last leg of the journey.


	9. Nine

The majority of the trip from Vancouver to Seattle was spent in awkward, uncomfortable silence. Veronica drove most of the way, alternating between tapping her fingers against the wheel and clenching the wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. Wallace sat calmly in the backseat, staring out the window at the passing scenery. He had driven the first half-hour until they stopped for breakfast at around 8 am. Veronica had insisted on taking over, tension showing clearly in her squared shoulders and sullen demeanor. He let her have it without a fight. In contrast, Meg spent the time either fidgeting restlessly with her hair, sniffling for no reason, or staring at Veronica with a mixture emotions that, from his position, Wallace couldn’t quite decipher. He wanted to call it ‘longing’ but there was such an underlying fear present as well that it wouldn’t be accurate.

It wasn’t until they came across the sign reading “Seattle Downtown 10 miles” that Veronica finally pried her eyes off the road and glanced over at Meg.

“How are you holding up?” Her voice was surprisingly gentle. Meg looked over at her, trying to push out a smile. It came out as more of a grimace.

“Okay.” Veronica wasn’t convinced. She came to the stoplight and turned again to her friend.

“Don’t worry so much.”

Meg tried to smile again, succeeding slightly. Veronica smirked at the effort. She leant closer and wiggled her finger invitingly. “C’mere.”

Confused, Meg leaned into the space, and was pleasantly surprised to feel Veronica’s lips against her own. The moment lasted only briefly and left Meg with a bittersweet feeling, and of course, bashfulness due to their audience in the backseat. Wallace graciously pretended not to notice. It was precisely that feeling that Meg would be missing the most. A horn sounded impatiently outside and Veronica whirled around and put her foot on the gas again, continuing to their destination.

 

Seattle was a strikingly different looking city to what the Southern Californian girls were accustomed to. It wasn’t exactly dreary but the overcast skies, cold ocean breeze, and foreboding Rocky Mountains in the far distance cast what seemed like a shadow over the whole state. In reality it was probably more the lack of palm trees than anything else that was the noticeable factor in the landscape. Meg switched places with Wallace so he could navigate the way more effectively. He had plenty of practice riding sidecar to Veronica.

Meg chewed on her nail as she stared blankly out the window as they pulled into her aunt’s driveway. She glanced over at her daughter who was still sleeping soundly, as she had for the entire ride. She quickly returned her attention to the unfamiliar house that she was expected to call home, at least temporarily. Veronica shifted down and turned off the engine. Lilly stirred in her carrier. None of the teens moved.

There was bang as a door closed somewhere and who Veronica could only assume was Aunt Chris came walking towards the car. She was younger than Veronica honestly expected. She had an image of a plump, old aunt with rollers in her hair and 2 or 3 cats. This Chris Talley was, at the most, 35 and slender, almost as if she were an athlete of some kind. She was the very definition of “the cool aunt”. Dressed in East Coast-inspired Abercrombie knock-offs, she leaned down to the driver’s side window. Veronica rolled it down slowly, noticing immediately the scent of what she wanted to pretend was patchouli that wafted through.

“You must be Veronica!” Chris said, not enthusiastically enough to be creepy, but coming close. “Your dad told me quite the stories about you.”

Veronica left the fact that her dad seemed to have confided in a complete stranger alone and opened the door as Chris backed up. Wallace followed suit and joined Veronica. Aunt Chris looked him over and smiled.

“I’m guessing you’re not Meg.”

He chuckled and extended his hand. “Wallace. I’m the sidekick.” Chris shook it and Wallace tried not to stare at the rather large unicorn tattoo wrapped around the lady’s right forearm.

Chris apparently noticed his gaze. “I was 17 and not quite rebellious enough to get the naked chick with a skull for a head riding a Harley.” She paused for a moment and glanced over at the car, seeing Meg still sitting in the backseat, looking the opposite direction. “Now let’s get that niece of mine out of the car before she becomes permanently attached to the upholstery.” Veronica and Wallace watched Aunt Chris approach the door and knock softly. Meg turned with a start and forced an uncomfortable smile before slowly opening the door.

She hadn't mentioned to Veronica that she had never actually met her mother’s sister before. For most of Meg’s life, her Aunt Chris had been in Nepal, or India, or Tibet, or South Africa, or Sweden, or Costa Rica, or wherever else her transient life took her. She was a relief worker for a while, and a teacher specializing in language and sustainable farming. When Chris finally returned to America and settled in Seattle, Meg’s father had banned all contact with her claiming that she was an abomination to God. Immediately Meg had assumed that Aunt Chris – never Christine – was gay and that is what offended her father so much. It had never occurred to her that the real reason was because he was terrified that Lizzie was far too susceptible to Chris’ wild adventure tales and he didn’t want his daughter traipsing all over the globe unless it was for missionary work. In fact, Aunt Chris was not a lesbian, but she was the stereotypical liberal, earth-loving, tree-hugging social worker that Meg had always associated with the states of Oregon and Washington. How convenient.

Meg had managed to find her aunt’s number in her mother’s old phonebook when she was searching for something else, and she had called the number from a payphone at school. And then found out about her aunt’s live-in boyfriend of 6 years and her penchant for Tibetan Buddhism. Regardless, Chris understood immediately when Meg relayed her situation and wasted no time giving Meg her address. She did insist on having it in writing from Meg just in case. And her response to Meg’s letter is what Duncan had found.

Despite all that, Meg still saw a stranger. She was so different from her immediate family that the Manning girl found it hard to reconcile them together.

“Hey Meggie, long time no see,” Chris said carefully. “The last time I saw you, you looked something like that.” She pointed to Lilly with a smile. She cocked her head to the side. “You’re all grownup now.”

Meg didn’t have anything to say. She wanted to get back in the car and drive away, pretend that the last year had never happened. If that wasn’t possible, she wanted to just grab hold of Veronica’s hand and never let go. But that also wasn’t possible. She had a life in Neptune, and a promising one. There was nothing that implied it would be a good idea to continue to cling onto her friend. It wasn’t until her aunt touched her shoulder that she realized she had been staring at the other blonde, who was talking quietly with Wallace as they checked the oil in the car.

“She’s not going anywhere. Not until tomorrow anyway.” Her aunt’s voice was understanding and Meg almost glared at her, stunned about how she seemed to know what was going on in her head. Veronica glanced away with a shy smile, hearing the comment. “Now let’s get you unpacked, eat some lunch, and it looks like your daughter there wants a change.” She gestured at Lilly who was squirming restlessly with a troubled look on her face.

“Yeah, thanks,” she said and pulled the baby carrier off the seat. She winced as she stepped into a puddle on the driveway.

“Good to see you’ve found your voice because trust me, in this house, you’ll need it.”

 

▪▫▪

 

By the time the sun began setting over the evergreens and mostly leafless trees, Meg felt as if it had only been an hour since they arrived at her aunt's. Lunch had passed, as had dinner, and at the moment Wallace and one of Aunt Chris' neighbors were still chomping down on what she called “naked chocolate cake” but it really was just cake with all the happiness taken out. Gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, egg-free, fun-free. Everyone else had left the supper table long ago. Children roamed freely and loudly through the house chasing dogs as friends of Aunt Chris' mingled about, almost aimlessly.

Aunt Chris had a beautiful house in a even more beautiful location and as Meg wandered across the large veranda, a feeling of both awe and uneasiness swept over her. Winter was not familiar to her, nor was the slight chill of the crisp evening air. Everything felt fresh, unhindered by the ever-present heat that she was so accustomed to in southern California. But damp. Very, very damp. She pulled the borrowed flannel hoodie tighter around her shoulders and tried to ignore the fear of seeing her own breath hanging in the air. And to think, her aunt said it was snowy a few miles up the mountains. The idea seemed horrifying.

Veronica was already relaxing on a wicker bench overlooking the garden and beyond. She was wrapped in a woolly tartan blanket, a cup of coffee cradled in her hands as the deep orange glow of the sunset covered her face. It was the picture of idyllic Pacific Northwest fantasy. It wasn't quite Meg's fantasy. She thought of Lilly asleep upstairs and what raising her here would be like. Placing the baby monitor on the porch floor, she sat down next to her friend. Veronica kicked the edge of the blanket over and Meg crawled beneath it.

“So, how long do you think it'll be until you're binge-listening to Nirvana and writing bad slam poetry in coffee shops?” she ventured as Meg fidgeted.

Meg smirked and plucked at her sweatshirt. “I've already got the uniform.”

“Go Seahawks.”

They lapsed into a heavy silence. Veronica took a long sip of her drink before reaching down and plucking a thick manila envelope from beside her. She handed it to Meg. “You may need these.”

The blonde opened it, ruffling through the assorted papers and pulled out two Canadian passports. She flipped open one, seeing the name Megan Elizabeth Ellis. The other, Phoebe Grace Ellis. Meg's lips pursed momentarily.

“Apparently it means 'bright and pure',” Veronica supplied hesitantly. Her father had chosen the names. It didn't escape Meg's notice that their new middle names were those of her sisters. “When you get there and get settled, we have contacts that can help you get legit ID.”

Meg turned the passports over in her hands. “This must have been very expensive.”

“It's on the house.” Both girls jumped at the new voice as Aunt Chris joined them on the deck. She held half a glass of red wine in her hand and looked to be draped in about 14 scarves of various colours.

The younger Manning looked perplexed.

Chris winked, swirling the wine in the glass. “Much to your father's chagrin, Dad left us equal amounts of his fortune. And quite shockingly for anyone who knows me, I'm actually quite a savvy investor.” Her grin faded. “And if it means saving the lives of family, there is no price too high.”

It felt odd to have a stranger so positively involved in her survival, and happiness. She was at a loss how to respond, or how in the future she could even begin to repay the debt.

“You'll have a week or so here, then I'll drive you and Lilly up to Canada and get you set up with a group there. They have a lot of experience in cult-breaking and helping survivors of domestic abuse.”

Veronica already knew all this. Her father had spent a great deal of time working with Chris and her contacts in Canada. She could only imagine what Meg must be feeling in the situation. Having worked with countless people floundering the dark for answers, she wondered what it was like to be given answers first before the questions even were a glimmer in her mind. Numerous times during investigations she had come across the answers before the questions, but she always had a sense of the pathways. Meg was stumbling blindly through the dark with only the vaguest idea of the end result.

“Cool.” It was the only thing Meg could even think to mumble under the circumstances. One of Chris' children yelled angrily indoors, presumably at his sibling.

Aunt Chris understood perfectly. “Well, I just came to tell you girls that your guestroom is all ready now, crib and all. Wallace said he'd be fine in the bunkie out back with the boys.”

“Cool,” Veronica intoned, mimicking Meg. She was graced with a pointed scowl from said girl. Chris merely quirked her lips and winked, turning on her heel and yelling into the house at one of her unruly children. She disappeared soon after once again leaving the girls alone on the veranda. Without the sun, it was even colder. Veronica shuddered briefly and glanced over, seeing Meg lost in thought.

“What'dya say, wanna get a room?”

Meg's mouth twitched as she attempted to keep a straight face. Whether it was nerves or something else, Veronica couldn't be sure, but she smirked all the same and rose from the bench.


	10. Ten

It was different this time. Bittersweet, perhaps. Sad in a way. Meg wasn't crying or anything, of course. That would be too weird. But she was a bit desperate in fact, clingy in a way neither of them had ever been. Her kisses were sometimes too hard, then too tentative, her hands held her tightly at every chance she got. It couldn't have been fear of being found out. Not only did Aunt Chris obviously already know, but she specifically gave them the basement to themselves. Veronica knew well enough what the issue really was but it would be best to just not think about it right now.

With enough gentle persistence, Meg began to relax and let herself get swept up in the sensations. Soon enough, she was writhing on the bedsheets with a determined blonde detective between her legs. Her fingers grasped Veronica's hair, her eyes squeezed shut as her lungs gave up trying to without the cries of pleasure. As Meg slowly released her grip, she let out a long contented sigh.

“My work here is done,” Veronica quipped as she rolled over, a self-satisfied grin on her face. The other girl suddenly snatched her arm and tugged.

“Not so fast, V.”

An eyebrow raised. “Oh really?”

Meg's smile faded quite quickly, and her insistent tugging turned to a gentle pull instead. A nudge to her shoulder found Meg hovering over her, an unreadable expression on her face. It was the same as she had felt from her kisses. A little bit nervous, a little bit heartbroken, a part aroused, and another part wistful. But whatever vague sense of confusion she felt began to dissipate the moment Meg's lips fell upon her neck.

The storybooks lied. Flat out lied. Veronica's skin didn't taste like strawberries or fuzzy peaches or whatever they said girls taste like in romance novels. Meg's tongue picked up a very slight pinch of soap, and salt. Maybe that was just Veronica. Granted, she wouldn't really know any better. Any girls she'd had the unfortunate experience of kissing generally tasted sour, like lemon vodka, moisturizer, and day-old perfume. Or like the saliva of whatever boy they had just necked on with moments beforehand. But now, she couldn't wait to see what girls _really_ taste like. She guessed it was going to be nothing like fresh fruit. 

In actual fact, she was entirely accurate in her suspicions. It was so much better than any ripe strawberry ever could be. Working slowly, Meg inched her way down Veronica's torso, dropping kisses as she went. But that was all familiar territory anyway. She'd been there enough in the dim light of Veronica's Neptune bedroom. As she got to the dip of her waist, and down into the cove of her hips, Meg inhaled deeply. Her own body quivered in anticipation. She knew she was not the first intrepid explorer here, that fucking Logan Echolls had planted his flag there long ago. (And Duncan. But who cared about Duncan anymore?) For a moment, she trembled, unsure if she could possibly live up to that experience and skill. Quickly however, Veronica's impatient whimper let her know it didn't matter who had done what and where before now. All that mattered at this moment was precisely this moment, she thought.

It was the second Veronica drew in a sharp gasp at the contact that Meg realised _nothing_ really mattered. Nothing at all except her lips, her tongue, and Veronica's body beneath her. She dove in, all hesitation evaporating in a puff of desire. She found quickly where to kiss, where to lick, where to tease her tongue. Nope, nothing like strawberries. Maybe a teeny bit musky, in a way that caused a rush to her own lady parts and she resisted the urge to grind down against the mattress. Tasteless almost, but deliciously so. Still no peach. As her tongue found Veronica's clit, building rhythm and hearing the accompanying moans of appreciation, she knew. Right there and then, Meg knew there was no going back. Not to Neptune, not to Meg Manning: Chaste, Darling Daughter, not to that life – in any form. Maybe in the future she'd find it amusing how she found herself, how it was between the legs of her best high school girl friend she had her great epiphany. Surely that didn't really matter either. All that mattered now was Veronica's soft moans and the way her nipples hardened further and her fists clenched handfuls of bedsheets. Meg kept up her efforts, dedicated to one task, feeling every tender inch of Veronica. When the tremors began and the other girl's fingers found their way through Meg's hair, it was only a matter of time.

A very short matter of time.

In an instant, hips bucked up and ground against her mouth and Meg felt it: that warmth spreading out from Veronica's folds onto her lips, lapped up by her tongue. She could tell that the sound accompanying it was restrained and had they been alone, would have been much more explosive.

Veronica Mars was quite the marshmallow after all—a marshmallow that she was currently having very strong, confusing, and surprising feelings for.

As Veronica's heavy breaths began to subside and her fingertips meandered over the smooth thigh beside her, Meg's throat tightened. “Veronica...”

The fingers stopped abruptly.

“I...” _Love you?_ Maybe. Maybe not. Meg wasn't sure what love was supposed to feel like anyway. It was probably just because of the sex. What was it that Mrs. Phipps called it? Infatuation.

Veronica was clearly uncomfortable with the lagging pause. She knew those wheels were spinning inside Meg's head, and for once she had no clue where they were headed.

“I... I'm scared,” came the tentative whisper.

Part of Veronica felt relieved, yet there was another part that was disappointed and she couldn't decide why. “Well, let me try to take your mind off of that while I can, huh?” She slid her hand between Meg's leg and immediately heard a groan. Meg nodded eagerly, her eyes closing. Neither of them were allowed to be scared. Not for the rest of the night, at least.

 

▪▫▪

 

The new day broke with a piercing wail from a tiny little human. It didn't get much easier from that point on. By the time 9 AM rolled around, everyone was awake, fed, and grumbling about the coming day. Wallace was complaining about the drive home. Veronica was complaining about the cold. Meg was complaining about being completely out of her comfort zone, and also the newly discovered rain that never ended. Lilly— _Phoebe_ was crying for some indiscernible reason likely relating to hunger or dirty diapers. Aunt Chris was complaining about her sons spilling organic OJ all over the floor. Her sons were complaining about the OJ not being in their cups. Chris' boyfriend, Matt, was complaining about the raccoon in the garden the previous night. One of the dogs (Meg had yet to learn either of their names, much like the kids) was chasing its tail and whining for table scraps. All in all, it was a wonderful morning around the kitchen table and any one of them would have easily traded this day for another.

Eventually, when all the tummies were full and the whining finished, Veronica and Wallace lugged their respective overnight bags to the LeBaron. There was a near-constant drizzle from the grey skies but at least the wind wasn't blowing... yet. It was hardly the goodbye party Meg had envisioned. Everything was so dull and dreary with only sparks of extreme noise thanks to the kids and dogs tearing around the house at breakneck speed, slamming into furniture and screeching at each other. Matt clearly was more interested in entertaining Lilly—shit, Phoebe.

Veronica winced each time. It was nothing like a small apartment in a Neptune suburb shared only with her father. Maybe she would have had more patience had she and Meg not stayed awake until 4 AM, delighting in their horny, insatiable teenage hormones.

There was a shattering crash and scream from indoors and Aunt Chris rolled her eyes, grabbing onto one of the dogs that decided it was going to hitch a ride to California. “Well, Veronica, Wallace, it was lovely to meet you two but I really need to go smack the crap outta my monster children.” The golden retriever tugged insistently at her arm, excited for a car ride.

Veronica glanced down. “Wanna go to the vet, boy?” she asked sweetly through a forced smile. The dog immediately recognized the word and gave into Chris' pull.

“Have a safe journey home,” she called over her shoulder as she pulled both the dog indoors.

Meg hugged her huge, grey sweater closer and shivered. It could have been the cold. It could have just as easily been her nerves. Moving to the blonde girl he'd thought was dead, Wallace held open his arms and cocked a grin. “I've never hugged a ghost goodbye.”

Meg let out a short laugh. “First time for everything.”

“So I've heard,” he quipped, a cheeky smile quirking his lips. Behind him, Veronica's cheeks flushed of their own accord. He pulled Meg into a brief hug, giving her the typical 09er pat on the back as she'd seen between so many of the basketball teammates. She wanted to say it was sweet and not at all awkward, but that may be just a slight lie.

And then it came down to Veronica Mars. As her BFF headed around to the driver's side of the car and slipped in, she moved close to Meg. The other girl's arms were crossed protectively against her chest, only in part to cover-up her trembling. Blue eyes softened as they watched Meg. 

She caught the look of what could be pity. “I'll be fine,” she assured Veronica, pleased with the flutter in her voice only slipping out a little.

“No, you'll be _super-fine_.”

Those words. It was a memory from a lifetime ago. _Literally_ , Meg mused, suddenly choked up by the fact that Neptune would never be her home again. There would never be a party like those. No more secret admirers at cheesy 80s dances. No more weird butterflies in her stomach seeing another girl in her cheer uniform. No more cheerleading at all, really. No more forged purity tests. No more mustard yellow lockers. No more hiding out in the bathroom. No more after-school visits from girls she'd barely spoken to. No more staying late after school to help a friend out in the yearbook room. No more smiles in school parking lots that may have meant something more. No more field trips on school buses. Especially not off the side of Californian cliffs. No more. She would never see Dick, Cole, Carrie, Logan, Shelley, or even that bitchy Madison Sinclair. None of the 09ers would be part of her life any longer. Nor would her parents or sisters... or Veronica. Not even Veronica. That scared her more than anything else. Terrified her, in fact.

“Promise?” Finally Meg allowed her voice to break.

Veronica gave her a gentle close-lipped smile. As a PI—(okay, PI's receptionist...)—she was more accustomed to seeing people at their most vulnerable and then never again once her job was done. “Now would I lie to you, Meg? I'm starting to think you're one of the last good people on this planet.”

“Funny, I was just thinking the same about you.”

Veronica looked down at her shoes, a small, shy grin on her face. No, Veronica, you are not bashful. Quite unexpectedly, she found herself in a desperate embrace, Meg's arms like vice-grips around her. Her hand found themselves sliding over a soft and familiar waist. This wasn't normally the way her cases ended.

She felt Meg's breath warm on her neck, then her ear. “Thank you, Veronica.” There was a nuzzle. “For _everything_.” She placed a soft kiss against Veronica's cheek as she drew in a shuddering breath. She nodded against Meg, unable to come up with a witty quip to diffuse the heavy moment. Her eyes slipped shut. There was a brief moment when she felt Meg's shoulders jerk ever so slightly so she pushed back. A hint of tears were on the other girl's cheeks.

“Don't cry, sugarpuff,” she attempted.

Meg forced a smile, trying not to let her emotions show too clearly. “I'm not crying. It's just... the rain,” she laughed, pointing at the puddles on the ground. “See?”

Veronica raised her eyebrows in amusement. “Was that a joke, Manning?” She thumbed a spot of wetness off the other girl's cheek. “Yeah, you'll be super-fine for sure.”

Meg scrunched up her nose. “Yeah, maybe.” She paused hesitantly. “Seriously though, I'm going to miss you.” Just in case it wasn't clear enough, Meg took Veronica's face in her hands and kissed her purposefully on the mouth. It caught the shorter girl a little bit off-guard and she grasped quickly at Meg's sleeves to steady herself.

She let out a long sigh when they parted. “I think I might miss you a bit too,” she breathed, her lips turning up at the edges.

“Good. That was my plan all along.”

“That was your whole plan?”

Meg looked down at her fingers barely poking out of the over-sized hoodie, picking at one sleeve. “Something like it.”

Wallace beeped the horn softly. A long drive awaited them and his impatience was starting to show. He waved his phone at them, presumably showing a text from his mother. Meg smirked. “Your white horse seems to be honking at you.”

“But has my armor lost its shine?”

Meg smiled. It was bittersweet like everything now, a little reluctant and most of all--kind. As always. Meg was predictable that way. Even when her life was spiralling out of her control, she would give that small, shy smile that asked, 'But are _you_ all right?'

Veronica came in to give her friend (girlfriend still?) one last hug. It was sort of like insurance. Or maybe just assurance. “Catch ya on the flipside, gal pal.”

“Maybe one day we'll have that circle of our own,” Meg muttered, squeezing tightly one last time before letting amateur PI free.

Like a year ago, Veronica nodded hesitantly but her smile this time was much more genuine. “Maybe.” They both knew better all the same.

“Goodbye, Veronica.” At least they had a proper one this time around.

“Bye, Meg.” She took a long breath and gave one last tight-lipped smile, her blue eyes sparkling a little bit even in the glum rainy weather. Meg mirrored the same and took a step backwards. It was the end. She crawled into the passenger side of the car, slammed the door, and took a deep breath. Wallace gave her hand a gentle squeeze. By the time she looked into the rearview mirror, all she could see was the back of Meg's form, small-looking and huddled in her hoodie, slowly walking towards the house.

She never looked back. It was probably better that way.

As Wallace revved the engine when they hit the freeway south, Veronica sighed. The wintry landscape of Washington state zoomed by her window, leaving all the cold and unfamiliarity behind. Absently, she licked her lips, tasting Meg for the last time. Yeah, maybe she was into at girls _that_ way after all.


	11. Epilogue

There was a loud squeal and a giggle as Phoebe’s PowerPuff Girls skateboard rolled into the grass, with the little girl following soon after. She was decked out in every imaginable piece of protective equipment so the fall was more enjoyable than aggravating. Meg looked up briefly to make sure everything was all right and then back down at her newspaper. Simon from two doors down yelled some gibberish in Phoebe’s general direction before pushing hard and riding his own skateboard down the driveway. He came to skidding stop in front of the young girl. They spoke in hushed tones before the 7-year-old gave his board a swift kick and it slipped out from under him. He landed very ungraciously on the road. He laughed.

A new face poked around the corner and sauntered towards Meg, two mugs in hand. Her smile lit up as he drew closer and placed the steaming cups down on her tiny patio table.

“Some organic green tea?” he asked, grinning. Meg nodded adamantly, taking a long swig of the offering. She smiled back.

“Thanks. I could really use this. In 7 years, I don’t think I’ve adjusted yet to this weather.” She cradled the mug in her cold hands and looked around at the gold, brown, and rust-coloured leaves still clinging stubbornly to the tree branches. It was a colder autumn than others she had experienced. She was lost for a moment in the steam rising from the peculiar liquid.

“That what you get from growing up as a pampered SoCal girl,” he smirked.

Meg never told anyone what really happened in California. She made up her life prior to arrival in Coquitlam. She almost believed in the lies herself now. She once wrote out all the lies she would need in a journal. She knew Phoebe would eventually start asking the hard questions and she would have to keep them all straight. Luckily, although Phoebe turned out to be quite bright, she appeared less concerned with the mystery of her creation as she was with what Simon had for a snack on a regular basis. Because she always wanted what he had.

“Oh, please,” Meg responded, lightly blowing on her drink. Simon’s father, Lucas, chuckled as he relaxed into the seat. He started popping by soon after he saw Meg struggling to carry a high-chair up the decrepit steps to her tiny house. His 9-year-old son, who was 2 at that time, became a constant fixture in her front yard, especially when Phoebe learned to walk. His mother left 3 years after Meg moved in and the blonde hoped to God that it had nothing to do with her, but she never bothered to ask. Now, he had become her best friend.

She glanced around, her gaze resting on the lettering on her mailbox. _Ellis_. She still wasn’t sure she liked that name but Veronica hadn’t given her a choice. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, she had said. Just like the more northerly winters, she wasn’t entirely accustomed to the name. But she had successfully trained herself to respond as if it was second-nature. Megan Ellis. Phoebe Ellis. It was sufficiently different from Faith Manning or Lilly Kane, the second. Bright and pure.

“Something on your mind?” Lucas’s voice interrupted her reverie. She forced a tight smile.

“Nope, not really. I was just thinking about something from a long time ago.” She gulped down a shot of tea. Lucas reached out and took her hand as they watched the two children wrestle on the short weed-riddled grass. Phoebe pulled hard on the elastic of Simon’s underpants. He let out a squeal and pushed her away. Both Meg and Lucas chuckled before he reached over snagged the Sports section from the messy pile of newspaper.

“So, do you want to gather the troops and head to SoMa soon?” he asked distantly, absorbed in the hockey box scores. Meg nodded and allowed a freer smile to flutter across her face.

“Yeah, sounds good. Buy myself some new mittens.” She laughed softly and flipped the page.

 

 

Halfway down the small residential street, a navy blue minivan was parked with a pair of binoculars trained on the previously-known-as-Manning girl. They occasionally moved to study her small child playing on the lawn but always returned to the older woman, contentedly reading the newspaper in the chilly fall air. The person behind the binoculars sank down as a beat-up family sedan drove past and pulled into a driveway a few houses down. Four children spilled out of the backseat and proceeded to run around the front yard and yell across the street to the two children outside the Ellis house. It was a momentary distraction.

 

▪▫▪

 

After what seemed like an hour of watching the kids play around on their skateboards and the adults read the newspaper, the man stood up. He said something to Meg and she smiled again, nodding. She called for the girl as her companion sauntered along behind his father and into the house next-door.

She looked content as she removed the protective gear from little elbows and knees and ushered the little girl inside. The door closed behind them.

Veronica Mars closed the driver’s side door behind her and stood on the pavement, staring across the street at the unfamiliar house. Of course, she had seen a picture of it once in an email a long time ago. Before the emails had become less and less informative and frequent. Eventually they had just come to a stop altogether. She guessed it was because by then, Lizzie had turned 18 and moved out and Grace had been placed in foster care pending adoption by her sister after an exhaustive investigation, incited by Lizzie herself with Veronica’s help. After that, Meg worried less about their well-being since they seemed to be okay. And Meg had to deal with a toddler and making rent.

The blonde tapped the manila envelope against her thigh. She hesitated. It had been 7 years since seeing Meg last and she was obviously doing well in her new home. Her hair was darker slightly without the Californian sun to bleach it and she seemed much older. Maybe that had been the stress of raising a child as a single mother, even if she didn’t appear too single anymore. Veronica took a deep breath and stepped onto off the curb and towards the small house. She stood awkwardly on the front step. Trying to gather up the courage to knock, she applied some lip balm, the envelope wedged under her arm. She noticed with some resentment that her hands were shaking, just slightly. As she realized that stalling would not make things any easier, she pressed the doorbell.

She could hear Meg calling to Phoebe to get her shoes as there was a rush of feet to the door. She swung the door open, expecting to see Lucas or Simon. For a moment, she squinted, attempting to reconcile the face to her memory. Veronica gave a short wave.

“Hey Meg.”

The realization dawned on Meg and she took a deep breath, stepping back slightly, her eyes wide. “Veronica?”

“Surprise?”

It was a repeat of years ago when Meg appeared on Keith Mars’ doorstep and was greeted only by an utterly disbelieving Veronica. This time however, the roles were reversed. Meg managed only to stare blankly at the woman at the door. It was a face she had never honestly expected to see again, regardless of how much – especially in the early weeks of leaving California – she had wanted to. Veronica licked her lips slowly and fidgeted with the envelope in her hands. Meg looked down at it and realized something was wrong. Veronica Mars wouldn’t show up in her new life with a foreboding envelope in her hands and an uncomfortable stance for any other reason.

Veronica glanced down at Meg’s ring finger, noticing with some curiosity that there was no ring there. She looked up again. She couldn’t help it. The nosiness hadn’t dissolved over time. “So, that guy...”

“He’s a friend,” Meg answered a little too quickly. She sighed. “Before you ask, the answer is no. It’s hard enough finding time for myself let alone a husband. Not that I'd want one.”

Veronica pursed her lips thoughtfully, staring at the envelope. “Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way,” she mumbled sarcastically. Meg shifted her weight, not taking the bait. Phoebe came rushing up and pulled her shoes from the rack in the hall. She gazed curiously at the blonde standing in her doorway. Meg let out another sigh. “Bee, how about you give Simon a call and tell him that we can’t make it to Main today?”

Phoebe groaned. “But I wanted to go to JJ’s for a hot chocolate,” she complained but still flounced away to make the phone call. Meg pulled open the door a little wider, biting her bottom lip.

“I’m guessing it’s bad news,” she said plainly, almost as if she had been expecting it. “Come in.”

Veronica took a quick peek around as Meg led her to the kitchen. It was bright and covered with drawings by Phoebe and Simon. In a corner was well-used surfboard, still covered in sand. On the fridge were magnets from various tropical locales and photos of dogs. Meg brushed aside the papers and markers littering the tabletop. She quickly tossed the remnants of a half-eaten bowl of cereal in the trashcan and pointed to a chair. The room smelled of crayons, Cheerios, and Febreeze. Veronica could hear Phoebe chatting on the phone in the other room. Meg looked around and offered the other woman a bottle of water. Out of politeness, Veronica grabbed it and cracked the top but she couldn't trust herself to swallow. Meg sat adjacent to her, waiting.

“Mom!” Phoebe called from the other room, “Lucas wants to know why!” Meg shook her head.

“Tell him I forgot I had work to do.” There was a pause. Then the young girl’s voice chimed again.

“He says ‘What work?’ and that you should do it later.” Meg grabbed the cheap looking phone in the kitchen. She promptly told Lucas that she couldn’t go but he was more than welcome to take Bee if he still was going. There was laughter from the other room as Phoebe agreed. In a matter of moments, there was a knock on the back door and Phoebe ran to get it, already in her shoes and mittens. Lucas poked his head in and saw the strange other woman sitting there and Meg looking rather uncomfortable. He looked as if he was about to say something but thought better of it. He promised to be back within 2 hours.

The house grew quiet enough to hear Lucas’s station wagon starting up next door. Veronica pushed the envelope towards Meg and then shrugged off her jacket. Meg tentatively opened the flap and pulled out the contents. The word “Obituaries” automatically grabbed her attention amongst the rest of the clippings. She selected it and skimmed over the words. She said nothing until she saw a copy of two death certificates mixed in with the rest of the papers. She sucked in a shaky breath.

“I thought you might like to know,” Veronica offered quietly. Meg ran a hand over her face without looking away from the papers in front of her. She shook her head, trying to resist the well of tears building up in her eyes.

“Why did you come here? You could have just emailed me this stuff,” she suddenly said, her voice and eyes accusing.

Taken aback by the question, Veronica shrugged. “I don’t know.”

The girls stared at each other, Meg fighting tears and Veronica fighting the urge to run. Meg finally bowed her head and covered her face with her hands. She took a deep breath. “I don’t understand why you’re here, why this happened, or why I feel so damn confused,” she lamented, mostly to herself. The other woman had to struggle to make out what she was saying. Eventually, Meg lifted her head and stared directly at her visitor.

“I’m sad and relieved at the same time,” she stated. “I shouldn’t be sad. But I am.”

Veronica nodded, trying to understand. “They were your parents... no matter how evil they could be.” She suspected that her comment wasn’t very helpful but Meg forced an incredibly strained smile anyway.

“I’m glad you came.”

Veronica looked down from the earnestness in Meg’s eyes and picked at her nails. She didn’t really want to talk about any of it. She didn’t even really know why she was here in the first place. It had seemed like a good idea before she arrived. Now she wished she had just emailed Meg instead of taking such a ridiculously long solo road-trip. It wasn’t awkward but there was a peculiar tension that hung in the air and it had nothing to do with the bad/good news she delivered. She wanted to agree that it had been a good idea to bring the news in person. Instead, she stood up and grabbed her jacket.

“I should go.”

Meg lurched out of her seat to stand as well. “Why?”

There was something in the pleading sound of Meg’s voice that caused a crack in Veronica’s usually well-kempt stony façade. She cocked her head to the side and offered a sad smile. “I thought you’d need me more.” Wincing at how that sounded, she tried to explain. “I thought you’d be more upset and, like, need to talk or something. But you’re pretty okay by the looks of it.” She hadn’t meant to seem so disdainful but a part of her was disappointed in how strong Meg had become in 7 years on her own, fending for herself. It seemed silly to have thought that she would be the same Meg who broke down crying in an audition because a dumb boy called her a slut under his breath.

“You still don’t know me,” Meg said, her voice holding a hint of amusement. “But I know you didn’t come all the way to Canada to hand me an envelope and walk away. So let’s talk.” Her succinct tone of voice convinced Veronica to follow her into the living room. Motherhood had looked good on her. Meg cleared away an interesting array of half-naked Barbie dolls from the sofa and sat on one end. Veronica followed suit. It was incredibly reminiscent of 7 years ago; of the hours they would sit in similar positions and watch TV. And, in fact, the TV was on, cartoons nonetheless.

Veronica huffed out a short breath. “This seems kinda familiar.”

Meg looked sideways at her, a small smile cocking her lips. “Sure does.” She paused. “Except for one thing.”

The other woman tilted her head questioningly. Meg chuckled. “There’s no unresolved sexual tension this time.” She had known it was a risk to bring up a topic like that, but really, where was Veronica going to go? She couldn’t run into her bedroom this time. Veronica let out a long sigh.

“That is true,” she smiled to herself. “Crazy times.”

“Definitely,” Meg mused quietly. It seemed that there was more silence than actual discussion. She wanted to talk about her parents, about the possibility of moving back to California. Deep down, she knew it still wasn’t possible. There was still that felony conviction lingering over her head. She wanted to explain that although it stung on some deep level, she felt guiltier than anything else for not feeling grief over her parents’ passing. A car accident was no way to go but it was over now. She wanted to ask about Lizzie and Grace. She knew that Veronica probably didn’t know much more than she herself did. And for some irrational reason, she had the urge to touch her.

“So you look like you’re doing really well here,” Veronica offered as an attempt to incite discussion. She didn’t exactly sound convinced.

Meg let the idea hang in the air around her. She wanted to agree. It was the truth after all. The house may be small but it worked. Her daughter was happy and healthy. She had caring, dependable friends. A steady job. Food in the refrigerator. She had even been toying with the idea of getting a kitten for Phoebe. Instead of relaying all of that, she sighed. It was a deep and drawn-out breath, strangled a little by memories.

“I think about you,” she said firmly. “A lot actually.”

Veronica had no immediate response. She gazed somewhat suspiciously at the other girl. “Oh?”

“Well, you know, I missed you. I think a lot about everything back home and what it all meant, in the grand scheme of things, I guess.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Conversation lapsed again after the declaration. The visitor had no idea how to respond to a statement like that. She’d wondered about Meg too, at least initially, but in the years that followed her departure, life had been hectic and she had grown up quite a bit as well. After college graduation, she, Logan and their epic love had moved in together, only to find out how incompatible they really were in a domestic situation, in any sort of settled sort of existence. Love couldn’t conquer the everyday mundane. They worked better on the run, laced with danger, under pressure, and pulled tense to the point of breaking. He had left first, to Mexico. She had vowed that her heart had shattered for the last time because of him. The last postcard she had received, he was soaking up the sun in Fiji, spending his days surfing and schmoozing. Sometimes she was tempted to follow, her heart pulled towards him. She had no idea where her life was going at the moment, crawling through various professions that she had natural aptitude for. She lived alone now in a beach house outside San Diego. She had never really left Neptune that far behind, despite a brief stint in New York and then Boston. A well-educated drifter is what her life’s course amounted to at present. She didn’t want to tell Meg any of that.

Meg shifted on the cushions, fiddling with a bracelet around her wrist. “I mean I really _missed_ you.” It was supposed to be a clarification but by the puzzled look on Veronica’s face, it hadn’t been. She fidgeted slightly again before moving closer. Watching her curiously, Veronica tried to figure out what was going on. Before she could fully assess the situation, she felt Meg against her lips.

Some things never change. She kissed her the same way as she had done 7 years earlier as they lay in Veronica’s bed in her father’s apartment.

Pulling back, Meg daintily licked her lips. A knowing smirk flitted over her features as the familiar fruity flavor hit her tongue with memories of years ago rushing back. Then, slowly, Veronica smiled too.


End file.
